Bangkok, Thailand — A passenger jet exploded just 35 minutes before Thailand's prime minister was to board it Saturday. One crew member died and seven people were injured.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was on his way to the Bangkok International Airport in a motorcade when the explosion triggered a massive blaze aboard the parked Boeing 737-400 Thai Airways plane.
Officials said they have not ruled out a bombing attack, even though there are no known threats to the prime minister's life.
"The reason for the explosion is not clear. But we cannot yet conclude whether it was accident or intentional," national police chief Gen. Pornsak Durongkabivoon told reporters.
Thailand has a history of coups and violent overthrows of governments, but no prime minister has faced an assassination attempt. The nation has enjoyed political stability under a succession of democratic governments for the last eight years.
"I hope it was an accident, but for now we will set up an investigation," said Thaksin, a telecommunications tycoon who took office last month after his Thai Rak Thai Party won a Jan. 6 election.
The explosion came two days after Thaksin gave Thailand's Constitutional Court 21 boxes of documents as part of his defense against a corruption indictment that could evict him from office.
He is accused of deliberately concealing assets in 1997 by transferring large amounts of stock shares to domestic servants.
Thaksin said he would "like to note that it happened to the flight that the prime minister was taking," adding that his security has been stepped up and his movements might be restricted.
He had been on his way to attend a meeting Sunday in the northern resort town of Chiang Mai, and flew on a military plane instead.
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