Thai “Yellow shirt” leader’s scrape with death

The founder of Thailand’s “yellow shirt” protest movement has had a lucky escape after his car was riddled with bullets during an assassination attempt.

Sondhi Limthongkul received a bloody head injury in the attack which also wounded his driver and bodyguard.

Police report they found more than 80 spent cartridges at the scene.

Sondhi leads Thailand’s People’s Alliance for Democracy, which was behind the week-long occupation of Bangkok’s main airports last year.

Sondhi’s supporters have not been part of the latest political violence in Thailand, which has involved the red-shirted supporters of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted in a 2006 coup and now in self-imposed exile.

Authorities have extended the three-day Thai new year holiday until the end of the week to help restore order. The Prime Minister has also announced an indefinite extension to a state of emergency that covers the capital and its surroundings.

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tags: Thailand