Pictured: The bungling Iranian bomber before he blew off his own legs… as Thai police link Bangkok blasts with New Delhi attacks on Israeli diplomats
- Wounded Saeid Moradi arrested and charged after Thai blasts
- Mohammad Hazaei detained trying to flee through Bangkok airport
- Third man on the run, believed to be in Malaysia
By Lee Moran
CCTV footage of three Iranian men believed to have been preparing a series of attacks in Bangkok has emerged – including the bungling bomber who blew his own legs off by accident.
The three men are pictured separately, dressed casually in jeans and t-shirts, walking down the road in the run-up to yesterday’s blasts.
Release of the image comes as it was revealed one of the trio has fled to Malaysia.
Thai investigators have also said there is a link between the blasts and Monday’s attacks on Israeli diplomats in New Delhi, India, and a botched attempt in Tblisi, Georgia.
Marked men: CCTV of the three Iranians, before they were caught with explosives in their Bangkok home
Mistake: Iranian Saeid Moradi, who is still alive, had his legs blown off after a grenade he hurled bounced back onto him, as police closed in on him outside a Bangkok school
They say the explosives used in the three incidents used ‘the same magnetic sheets’. The fugitive, who has not yet been named, went on the run after a bizarre sequence of blasts in the Thai capital.
It started when a stash of explosives accidentally blew off the roof of a house occupied by three Iranians. Two ran away while wounded Saeid Moradi staggered out and tried to wave down a taxi.
Covered in blood, the driver refused to take him, and so he hurled a grenade at the vehicle. And when police arrived he then tried to throw another at officers – but it bounced off a tree, landed at his feet, and blew off his legs.
Moradi has been charged with illegal possession of explosives, causing explosions, attempted murder and assaulting a police officer. Four people were injured in the events.
Detained: Mohammad Hazaei (centre) speaks to police after he was arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok last night
Explosion: Bomb disposal experts work on the Bangkok house rented by three Iranian men, which was blown up yesterday
One of his accomplices, 42-year-old Mohammad Hazaei, was arrested at Bangkok’s international airport yesterday, but the third slipped past security and fled to Malaysia.
Deputy National Police Commander Pansiri Prapawat said: ‘Our latest intelligence is that the suspect has escaped from Thailand … to Malaysia already.’
Thailand’s National Security Council secretary Wichian Podphosri said the explosives used in Monday’s and Tuesday’s attacks, which also included a bomb that failed to explode in the Georgian capital Tblisi, used the same ‘magnetic sheets’.
He said: ‘The individual was in possession of the same magnets and we are currently examining the source of the magnet’.
Iran, which has been accused of being behind the attacks, has strongly denied any involvement.
But Israeli ambassador Itzhak Shoham countered this, claiming Thai police had found and defused another two magnetic bombs that could be stuck on vehicles, after yesterday’s Bangkok blasts.
He said: ‘They are similar to the ones used in Delhi and in Tbilisi. From that we can assume that there is the same network of terror.
‘With the arrest of the two Iranians it leaves not too much room to assume who was behind it.’
Investigation: A Thai Explosive Ordnance Disposal team member analyses the damage following the blasts in Bangkok
Carnage: A bomb disposal expert checks out the damage, which also hit a police car
Warning: Israel and the U.S. have told their citizens to be alert in the capital, but Thai authorities said the country appeared to have been a staging ground but not the target of any attack
On Monday, a bomb wrecked a car in New Delhi taking an Israeli embassy official to pick up her children from school. She was in stable condition today after surgery to her spine and liver.
Her driver and two passers-by suffered lesser injuries in the attack which police believe was also a botched job.
The motorbike rider who stuck the bomb on to the car put it on the opposite side to the petrol tank – if it had been on the tank side it would have been a bigger blast and likely caused fatalities. Five people have been detained for questioning.
Israeli officials said an attempt to bomb an embassy car in Tbilisi failed and the device was defused. Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat confirmed that the blast there was caused by a ‘sticky bomb’.
He said witnesses saw a lone motorbike rider attach the device to the right rear side of the car in which the Israeli diplomat’s wife was travelling.
Peace: Thailand has rarely been a target for foreign terrorists, although a domestic Muslim insurgency in the country’s south has involved bombings of civilian targets
The device was about the size of an iPad, would have exploded about three to five seconds after it was stuck to the vehicle and magnetic fragments were found at the scene.
Bhagat said: ‘This is the first time that this modus operandi has been seen in India. We don’t yet have the evidence to point the finger at anybody. We are exploring all possibilities.’
Indian media said investigators were scanning records of all Iranian nationals as well as Lebanese students who arrived in the country in recent months.
India also said yesterday it was still unsure who was behind the attack, remaining pointedly silent on Israel’s accusation that Tehran was the culprit.
Police were visiting the Israeli Embassy today, with two Israeli Mossad agents reportedly flying into New Delhi.
Fireball: The Bangkok blasts come the day after Israeli diplomats were targeted in simultaneous bomb plots which were also blamed on Iran. A bomb attached magnetically to a car in the Indian capital New Delhi exploded and injured the wife of an Israeli official and two bystanders
Closer examination: Indian security and forensic officials examine the car yesterday – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately blamed Iran for the attacks
New Delhi has good relations with both Iran and Israel, so the attack makes its diplomatic balancing act between the two countries all the more difficult and has thrust the mounting tension between the Middle East rivals on to its doorstep.
Israel is the second-largest supplier of arms to India. But India is Iran’s biggest oil buyer, relying on it for about 12 percent of its needs, and it is Tehran’s top supplier of rice.
On the diplomatic front, India regards Iran as an important partner to protect its regional interests when U.S. troops are withdrawn from Afghanistan.
India’s Economic Times questioned why Iran would take the risk.
‘The idea that Iran would want to make India a theatre in its rivalry with Israel is far-fetched and does not sit well with the track record of Tehran’s relationship with India,’ it said.
‘Iran is in a desperate position because of western financial sanctions to punish it for its nuclear programme but it is certainly not desperate enough to alienate New Delhi by ordering an attack on its soil.’
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WarSclerotic 
February 15, 2012 at 5:44 PM
Reblogged this on Boudica BPI Weblog and commented:
He deserved what he got, victims didn’t.
Bob A.