Renegade army general shot in the head

BANGKOK | A renegade army general accused of leading a paramilitary force among Thailand’s Red Shirt protesters was shot in the head Thursday while speaking with foreign reporters as the government prepared to blockade the protesters’ camp in downtown Bangkok.

At least one person was killed in clashes between the anti-government protesters and soldiers that continued into the night, the government’s medical emergency center said. It said seven others were injured.

Maj. Gen. Khattiya Sawasdiphol was shot after the government announced that troops would encircle the protesters’ encampment in the city’s main commercial district, and that snipers would shoot “terrorists” in an effort to end the Red Shirts’ 2-month-long siege.

Gen. Khattiya, 59, known by his nickname Seh Daeng, was hit as he was being interviewed at the edge of the protest zone and slumped to the ground. One person cradled his head. Moments later, others dragged him by the legs, his head sliding on the ground and leaving a trail of blood as he was rushed to a hospital. An aide said his injury was severe.

The government also announced it is extending a state of emergency to cover 17 provinces to prevent more people from joining the thousands of protesters in the capital.

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

The protesters, mostly rural poor, are demanding the dissolution of Parliament. They say Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s coalition government came to power illegitimately through manipulation of the courts and the backing of the powerful military.

In an interview with the AP about 90 minutes before he was shot, Gen. Khattiya, dressed in military-style fatigues, said he anticipated a military crackdown soon.

“It’s either dusk or dawn when the troops will go in,” he said. He was shot soon after night fell.

Later in the evening, small clashes broke out between protesters and soldiers. At one point, hundreds of protesters threw rocks and firecrackers at a group of soldiers, who responded with gunfire, AP cameraman Raul Gallego said.

He said one man was shot in the head. Soldiers opened fire again after an ambulance took the man away. It was not immediately clear if he was the same man that the government’s medical emergency center said had died. It also reported seven other people were hurt, but couldn’t confirm Thai media reports of more than 20 injuries.

An earlier army attempt to clear the protesters from the capital on April 10 led to clashes that killed 19 protesters, five troops and a Japanese journalist and wounded more than 800. Another four people were killed in violence in the following weeks.