Iran Officials Deny Involvement in Bangkok Bombings - Paper

RIA Novosti

13:40 24/02/2012 BANGKOK, February 24 (RIA Novosti) - Iranian officials at UN headquarters in Bangkok denied any involvement in the February 14 bombings in Bangkok, the Bangkok Post reported on Friday on its website.

According to the paper, Iran’s UN ambassador, Mohammad Khazaee, sent a letter to the UN Security Council, denying any role in attacks on Israeli diplomatic targets in Thailand and other countries and claims that Israel is to blame.

A blast occurred in the afternoon of February 14 in the east of Bangkok in a two-story residential building. Three Iranian citizens, who rented the house, tried to escape after the incident.

Thai authorities said they were holding two suspects; Mohammad Hazaei was arrested on February 14 at Bangkok’s International Airport, as he tried to take a plane to Malaysia and Saeid Moradi, whose legs were blown off by his own bomb, was also arrested.

Masoud Sedaghatzadeh, 31, was arrested the next day by Malaysian authorities; Thailand has called for his extradition.

A fourth suspect, an Iranian woman, is accused of renting the house where the first device exploded. She left the country before February 14 and has already returned to Iran.

Thai police declared that they were looking for one more suspect last Friday, who, like all the other suspects, entered Thailand with an Iranian passport.

Previously, Iranian Ambassador to Thailand Majid Bizmark claimed the bombings in Bangkok were organized by the "Zionist regime" to tarnish Iranian-Thai relations.

Israel and Iran continue to blame each other for numerous attacks over the past few weeks in Bangkok, New Delhi and Georgia.