Bangkok  - Gunmen early Friday attacked Sondhi Limthongkul, one of the core leaders of last year's yellow-shirt protests, riddling his car with more than 100 bullets but failed to kill him, police said.

Two unidentified gunmen in a Toyota pickup truck sprayed Sondhi's car with M-16 and AK47 semi-automatic fire at 5:45 am as the media tycoon was being driven to his ASTV television station, Police Colonel Khing Kwaengwhisetchaichang said.

"Sondhi was only slightly injured in his shoulder and by a bullet that grazed his forehead," Khing said.

Sondhi's driver, however, was listed in serious condition, while his bodyguard suffered minor injuries. The two gunmen fled the scene.

Sondhi, the owner of the Manager media group, was a core leader of the yellow-shirted People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) movement that held anti-government protests for six months in Bangkok last year culminating in their seizure of the capital's two airports for a week, losing the country billions of dollars in tourism and export revenues.

The PAD was fanatically opposed to efforts to return fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to power and only ended their protests after the pro-Thaksin People Power Party was dissolved by a court ruling for election fraud.

The PPP led Thailand's previous government.

The attack on Sondhi comes in the wake of more than two weeks of protests led by the pro-Thaksin, red-shirted United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) who resorted to urban terrorist tactics Monday, blocking streets and burning 20 public buses.

The protests were quelled by army and police forces by Tuesday.

Altogether 123 people were injured in the melee and two killed in a fight between red shirts and local Bangkok residents.

Three UDD leaders have been arrested and warrants issued for about 30 others including Thaksin, who has been living in self-exile since August 2008.

To date, no leader of the PAD has been held accountable for their protests last year. (dpa)