Thai police: politician shot rival himself

A Thai parliamentarian is wanted by police for personally shooting dead a political rival, the Bangkok Post reports.

The Thai media is rife with stories of political assassinations and killings motivated by business feuds.

But this allegation is highly unusual because the accused, a parliamentarian with the Democrats party, is suspected by police of actually walking up to the victim, connected to the rival Pheu Thai party, and pulling the trigger himself.

Anyone familiar with the modus operandi of assassinations here has to wonder: why wouldn't you just hire a hitman? Hitmen, recurring figures in the Thai press and in popular culture, are known to kill their targets for just a few thousand dollars.

Thai police even released a list of "known" hitmen earlier this year prior to a major election.

The cops' stated rationale? The going rate for hired political killings had shot up to about $3,200, they said, and hitmen would be eager to ply their trade.