The leader of Thailand’s Yellow Shirt movement, which helped to force the country’s last government from power five months ago, narrowly escaped death yesterday when his car was riddled with automatic gunfire.

Sondhi Limthongkul, the founder of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), suffered a shrapnel injury to the head when the car in which he was travelling was attacked by two gunmen before dawn in central Bangkok. His driver and an aide were wounded, but Mr Sondhi walked away. He was reported to be conscious and lucid after a three-hour operation to remove fragments of bullet and bone from his skull.

The assassination attempt came after a tumultuous week in which thousands of red-shirted opponents of the current Government, which Mr Sondhi supports, abandoned demonstrations after a state of emergency was declared in Bangkok. Many Thais will assume that the attack was the work of sympathisers of the Red Shirt movement and their figurehead, the exiled former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra.

“Everyone knows who did it – it’s bloody Thaksin," Suwan Kansanoh, a retired government official, said yesterday. “He will do anything, even burn his own country down.”

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The PAD were careful not to become involved in last weekend’s crisis, when the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship, as the Red Shirts are formally called, raided a top level international summit, forcing the Government to announce a humiliating cancellation. Today PAD leaders were trying to discourage any violent reaction to the shooting, amid increasingly bitter and violent divisions in Thai society.

“We’re not pointing the finger at anybody as the mastermind of this operation,” Suriyasai Katasila, a senior Yellow Shirt, said. “We will wait for the Government to find out.”

Mr Sondhi used to be a friend and supporter of Mr Thaksin, but since 2005 has fought against him and his supporters. His pugnaciousness, aggression and thick skin, as well as the financial and propaganda resources afforded by his newspaper and television channel, have been one of the biggest factors in the success of the Yellow Shirt movement, which saw off three prime ministers in two years.

But the formal name of his organisation, the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), is misleading. Throughout last year, it dedicated itself to the overthrow of a government that came to power after a legitimate election in December. Mr Sondhi proposed changes to Thailand's Constitution that would restrict voting rights and have some MPs appointed by interest groups rather than national elections.

He must count himself lucky to be alive after what appears to have been an inept assassination attempt. According to police, the two assailants jumped out of a truck and attacked the car at a petrol station, first shooting out the tyres and then pumping it with bullets from an AK47 and M16 rifle.

The car's windscreen was peppered with bullet holes and windows on one side were shattered. Mr Sondhi’s driver was seriously wounded . Eighty-four spent cartridges were found at the scene, and an M79 grenade missed the car and struck a passing bus without exploding.

“Considering the nature of the attack and the weapons used, we believe it was carried out by people with expertise,” Suporn Pansua, a police spokesman, said. “We believe the attack was meant to take lives.”

The Thai Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, who is supported by the PAD, has been closely guarded since his official car, in which he was not travelling at the time, was attacked last Sunday by rampaging Red Shirts.

“We are concerned by the shooting obviously,” he said yesterday. “We've got to restore order. We do not want this to be used to create a wider conflict.”

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