Rogue Thai general aiding protesters shot in head

BANGKOK – A rogue army general working with anti-government protesters was shot in the head Thursday while talking
to reporters in downtown Bangkok,
triggering more clashes that left one demonstrator dead and worsening
Thailand's political chaos.

Gunfire crackled well into in the night after the government declared it will blockade 10,000 Red Shirt demonstrators
who have occupied and paralyzed the center of the capital for two
months.

The developments further eroded chances of re-establishing peace in this deeply divided Southeast Asian nation
where the mostly rural, poor protesters are seeking to topple the
government and hold new elections that they hope will give them a
greater share of power.

The Red Shirts have turned a 1-square-mile (3-square-kilometer) area in the posh Rajprasong neighborhood into a
sprawling camp, with portable bathrooms, free food and a stage from
which their leaders deliver daily anti-government diatribes.

The streets around it turned into a virtual war zone following the shooting of Maj. Gen. Khattiya Sawasdiphol. Protesters
stopped police trucks and forced them to turn back; they hurled rocks at
soldiers, who responded by firing live ammunition, said Associated
Press cameraman Raul Gallego.

Killed in the shooting was Chartchai Bualao, 25, who was hit in the eye, according to the government's medical emergency center. Soldiers
resumed firing after an ambulance took his body away. At least seven
other people were injured.

Khattiya was shot in the head while talking to a New York Times journalist near the Silom subway station on the edge
of the occupation zone. The station entrance is surrounded by tall
office buildings, leading to suspicions a sniper fired the shot.

Times reporter Thomas Fuller, answering questions on the newspaper's website, said he was about a half-hour into the interview
when he asked the general, "Do you think the military is going to launch
a crackdown, and do you think they'll be able to penetrate the
barricades here?"

"And there was a bang as he was answering it, and I think his last words that I heard were, 'The military cannot get
in here.' And then immediately (he) just fell, just collapsed," Fuller
said. "He was looking right at me. I think the bullet went over my head
and hit him in the forehead."

Wearing his trademark camouflage uniform, Khattiya slumped to the ground and one person cradled his head for a
while. Moments later, others dragged him by the legs, his head sliding
on the ground and leaving a trail of blood.

The emergency center said Khattiya was shot in the head and admitted to a hospital's intensive care unit.

Asked if troops shot Khattiya, government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn refused to give a direct answer. "The
operation by authorities was according to international standards and
law. So far, we have not found any actions by the authorities that went
beyond that," he told the AP.

About 90 minutes before he was shot, Khattiya gave interviews to a series of foreign reporters, including the AP. The
59-year-old Khattiya, known by his nickname Seh Daeng, said he
anticipated a military crackdown soon.

"It's either dusk or dawn when the troops will go in," said Khattiya, who was shot soon after night fell.

The Red Shirts demand an immediate dissolution of Parliament. They believe Prime
Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's coalition government came to power
illegitimately through manipulation of the courts and the backing of the
powerful military.

Tens of thousands of Red Shirts streamed into the capital March 12 and occupied the historic downtown area. An army attempt to clear them
April 10 led to clashes that killed 25 people and wounded more than 800.
Another four people were killed in related violence in the following
weeks.

On Thursday, the government extended a state of emergency to cover 17 of Thailand's 76 provinces to prevent more
people from joining the protesters in the capital.

The decree gives the army broad powers to deal with protesters and places restrictions on civil liberties. The government spokesman
said it is intended to prevent "masses of people trying to come to
Bangkok."

Thursday's violence was expected to deepen fears of more bloodshed.

"I am gravely concerned about the safety of the protesters," said Tyrell
Haberkorn, a political scientist at The Australian National University.
"Long-term, the outlook for peace and democracy in Thailand is bleak,"
she said in e-mailed comments.

Khattiya was suspended from the army in January and became a fugitive
from justice last month when an arrest warrant was issued against him and
two dozen others linked to the Red Shirts for their purported roles in
the violence. Yet he wandered freely through the protest zone, signing
autographs near government security forces.

The government labeled him a "terrorist" and a mastermind behind some of
the violence.

Khattiya helped build the Red
Shirt barricades of sharpened bamboo stakes and tires around the
protest area, was accused of creating a paramilitary force among the
protesters and had vowed to fight the army if it launched a crackdown.

He bitterly opposed reconciling with the government and had become
critical of Red Shirt leaders, some of whom had wanted to accept a
compromise.

Earlier Thursday, Col. Sansern Kaewkamnerd said security forces were
preparing to impose a lockdown on the protest area. The army spokesman
said armored personnel
carriers and sharpshooters would be sent to surround the zone,
and power, public transportation and cell phone service were suspended
in the area.

The Red Shirts see Abhisit's government as serving an elite insensitive
to the plight of most Thais. The protesters include many supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra, a populist leader accused of corruption and abuse of
power and ousted in a 2006 military coup.

Thaksin, a former telecommunications billionaire who fled overseas to
avoid a corruption conviction, has publicly encouraged the protests and
is widely believed to be helping bankroll them. He claims to be a victim
of political persecution.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100513/ap_on_re_as/as_thailand_politics