BANGKOK, Thailand — A deadly bomb which obliterated a Thai Airways Boeing 737 passenger plane in an apparent attempt to assassinate the prime minister, has baffled investigators checking a long list of possible enemies.

Newly elected Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, 52, was going to an anti-drug conference in northern Thailand to demand the death penalty for narcotics producers and traffickers.

Thailand is one of America's few allies on Asia's mainland. The bombing has severely shaken Thaksin who was already under fire for alleged corruption.

A bomb enhanced with white phosphorus — to make it extremely flammable — created a firestorm which consumed nearly the entire airplane on the ground, killing one airline staffer.

Investigators examining the blackened wreckage at Bangkok International Airport said the explosion on Saturday (March 3) appeared to be rigged to detonate in the business class section where the prime minister was about to sit.

At the time of the blast, Thaksin was walking with about 150 other passengers toward the plane at the start of a trip to the northern city of Chiang Mai.

"The incident was caused by an explosive device and was not an accident," said Thaksin, unhurt.

"There were few people who knew about the (earlier) change in my flight schedule. If I was the target of the explosion, the person who placed the bomb must have had access to my schedule," Thaksin added.

After he arrived in Chiang Mai on a later flight, Thaksin reportedly departed the northern airport in a bulletproof BMW limousine.

Thaksin's political foes who opposed his January election victory, or perhaps narcotics smugglers who dislike his escalating war on drugs, may have tried to kill him, investigators said.

Thailand is currently suffering a smoldering conflict with neighboring Burma, where much of the world's opium, heroin and methamphetamines are produced.

Minority ethnic guerrillas in Burma are fighting along the Thai-Burma border near Chiang Mai to stake out territory from which to produce and export more drugs.

Scattered fighting between guerrillas and Burmese troops spilled over the frontier in recent weeks, resulting in a handful of Thai casualties and a heightened security threat to Thailand's northwest.

Relations between Thailand and Burma, which fought devastating wars in the past, are now strained due to the border crisis.

Thaksin, a former police chief, has many other possible enemies.

As the richest person in this Southeast Asian nation, his satellite and telecommunications businesses have been hit by allegations of monopoly practices and news censorship.

Thaksin's future as a prime minister is meanwhile under a possible guillotine because the courts are considering allegations that he earlier concealed much of his wealth, and thus may be disqualified.

Police were also focusing on possible international terrorism or rivalry within the airport itself — ironically over the cash flow to purchase new X-ray and bomb detection equipment.

Airline officials said the plane's engines had not yet been started, thus ruling out an internal malfunction.

The fuel tanks also were undamaged, indicating a leak or burning fuel was not the cause, they added.

Whoever made the bomb was an expert. Traces of Semtex, TNT, white phosphorus, PETN and RDX were reportedly discovered in the wreckage.

Investigators said Semtex — a plastic explosive favored by terrorists and various governments' special forces — could have allowed the bomb to avoid detection, while phosphorus ensured a burn of more than 2,000 degrees Celsius to melt the plane's metal body.

Despite the bombing, Thaksin was still expected to address the anti-drug conference which opens on March 11 in the northern town of Chiang Rai. The conference invited cabinet ministers, security officials, narcotics officials, non-government organizations, researchers, academics and others concerned about the growing use of illegal drugs, especially cheap methamphetamines, in Thailand.

During his campaign to become prime minister, Thaksin announced, "Before I die I want to kill our enemies first, and these are poverty, drugs and corruption."

After achieving power, Thaksin told Parliament in a February policy statement his new government would "stringently enforce the law and create a special process to control and suppress traffickers — and all those involved in the manufacturing and trafficking of drugs — in a strict, swift and just manner."

Thaksin added he would "amend the law, to increase to the highest degree, punishment for political and government officials who are involved in drug trafficking" and "provide rewards and special protection for public officials and citizens who cooperate with the government in drug suppression."

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Richard S. Ehrlich has a Master's Degree in Journalism from Columbia University, and is the co-author of the classic book of epistolary history, "HELLO MY BIG BIG HONEY!" -- Love Letters to Bangkok Bar Girls and Their Revealing Interviews.

His web page is located at http://www.oocities.org/asia_correspondent and he may be reached by email: animists *at* yahoo dot com