BANGKOK, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Amid wide-spread rumors in Bangkok that an "anti-coup coup" was imminent on Thursday night, Thailand's Assistant Army chief Gen. Saprang Kallayanamitr said that the military ruling body, the Council for National Security (CNS), would get tough on "those who have ill intentions for the country," according to English-language media The Nation.

    The Bangkok-based newspaper The Nation on its website Thursday night quoted Saprang as saying that the CNS will readjust its strategies, which proved too soft in latest incidents, on the remnants of the previous regime.

    Saprang reportedly said in a radio program, "My boss (referring to CNS chairman and army commander-in-chief Sonthi Boonyaratkalin)has been too nice for those who have ill intentions for the country and the people."

    Sonthi has earlier denied rumors spreading in the capital Thursday about an impending coup with an aim to depose the CNS and the interim government it installed, which ousted the former administration led by Thaksin Shinawatra in the Sept. 19 coup.

    He denied troops mobilization from the Second Army Region base in the province of Nakhon Ratchasima in the country's northeastern area, deemed stronghold of Thaksin and his allies.

    Another Assistant Army Commander in Chief Gen. Anupong Paojindahas also denied the coup rumors.

    The rumors about a second coup intensified Thursday night, three days after the deadly Bangkok series bombings on Sunday night, for which the interim government and the CNS accused "people who lost political interests" of being the culprits.