Thaksin shrugs off video death threat

Ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is dismissive of a YouTube video which appears to be a threat from al-Qaeda threatening to murder him, his legal adviser said yesterday.

Noppadon Pattama said in a Facebook post that Thaksin was unconcerned about the video which features three men in Arab-type clothing threatening to murder him ‘‘to avenge the killing of Muslims in the South in 2004’’.

‘‘Thaksin spends most of his time in the Middle East and has many good friends who are Muslims and have good intentions,’’ Mr Noppadon wrote.

The clip was removed by the videohosting site on Saturday but reappeared hours later. The two-minute, 45-second video is entitled ‘‘Al-Qaeda video against former Thailand Prime Minister’’.

It shows three men, one armed with what appears to be an AK-47 rifle, with the ‘‘leader’’ in the centre reading the death threat.

It referred to the killings at Tak Bai district at the time Thaksin was premier. ‘‘You have killed our Muslim brothers in Tak Bai, south Thailand,’’ the man says. ‘‘We will get you any time, anywhere in the world.’’

There was little other context provided in the video. The uploader of the original video, a registered YouTube user with the handle ‘‘mansoor ahmed volvo’’, appears to be a Pakistani, who posts often in Urdu about border disputes with India.

The accent in the video could indicate the speaker was from South Asia.

Southern militants have denied any connections with al-Qaeda or similar foreign terrorist groups.

But the video is not enough to stop Thaksin from seeking power in Thailand, Democrat Party MP Thaworn Senneam said yesterday.

‘‘Thaksin has already admitted that it was wrong to use an iron fist to deal with the problem in the southern border provinces,’’ Mr Thaworn said.

‘‘The insurgents are not happy with this comment because Thaksin’s the main culprit.’’

A security source said another group of southern insurgents was intending to oppose the peace talks under way with the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) because the clip was released just after confirmation by the Thai government that it would continue talks with the BRN only.

National Security Council secretarygeneral Paradorn Pattanatabutr said the video was politically motivated and timed to be released after Thaksin’s birthday on Friday last week.

He said the men in the clip were wearing new clothes, while al-Qaeda members would usually wear used clothes. Besides, he said al-Qaeda has never been involved in the restive region.

He said the clip was aimed at obstructing peace talks with the BRN. Lt Gen Paradorn heads the Thai delegation at the talks.

Tariq Khattak, a Pakistan-based journalist who circulated the clip to his Thai media network on Saturday, said he received a video claiming to be an alQaeda threat against Thaksin from his news source two days ago.

‘‘I am not the one who posted it on YouTube,’’ he said. ‘‘Shortly after receiving the clip, I sent it to my two media networks.’’

However, he said he could not unveil the origin of the video clip.