A man with one hand torn off sitting on the ground with what looks like a grenade in the other hand. A mysterious man carrying a gun at Dusit Zoo. A policeman aiming a pistol at advancing protesters.

Images taken of Tuesday's protest that turned into a bloodbath have inflamed debate and deepened political divide. Who and what killed two people and caused several others to lose their limbs?

Police yesterday stood firm on their unsupported claims that the victims were either carrying explosives themselves or hit by "friendly fire" from other People's Alliance for Democracy members.

Two stories

"The deaths and injuries were not caused by police weapons. They were caused by bombs believed to be part of secret plans to inflame the police and create chaos," said Pol Maj-General Suraphon Thuanthong, deputy police spokesman. But in a later interview he admitted that police fired a .38-calibre gun at a PAD protester who was trying to run a policeman over with a pickup truck.

 In a separate interview, key PAD member Suriyasai Katasila said: "We are collecting photo and video evidence to show the public and use to back our legal action in the courts.

Dr Direk Pakapul, who treated the "sitting man with the grenade", unlocked the mystery yesterday, explaining that it was a key chain in the man's left palm, not a grenade. But police were quick to claim that another man whose right hand was mutilated could be one "Suchin Saengrin", a convicted robber and murderer from Nakhon Pathom. The man took the PAD stage on Wednesday to say that he lost the hand while throwing back a tear-gas canister at the police.

Horrific casualties

Calls are being made for an independent investigation. The PAD said that the police has cooked up claims of "friendly fire" or a "third party" as they could not otherwise explain the horrific casualties.

Some PAD sympathisers have suggested that a good way to prove what caused the deaths and loss of limbs would be to line up the senior police officers who defended the operation and fire the same made-in-China tear gas at them from similar distances and angles.