Korean Warship Latest: Is This A Crisis? (BBC)

The BBC updates on the latest politics around blame upon North Korea for the torpedoing of a South Korean warship two months ago:

North Korea is facing international condemnation after investigators blamed it for the sinking of a South Korean warship in March.

Pyongyang rejected the claim as a "fabrication" and threatened war if sanctions were imposed.

The international report found a North Korean submarine's torpedo sank the South Korean navy ship, causing the deaths of 46 sailors.

China urged restraint and did not criticise the North.

The US administration described the sinking as an "act of aggression" that challenged peace.

Britain, Australia and Japan also expressed anger at North Korea. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak pledged to take "stern action".

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the report was "deeply troubling".

Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague said North Korea's actions would deepen the international community's mistrust.

"UN resolution"

The investigation team, which included experts from America, Australia, Britain and Sweden, said it had discovered part of the torpedo on the sea floor and it carried lettering that matched a North Korean design.

Pyongyang said it would send its own inspection team to the South, to "verify material evidence" behind the accusation.

A North Korean defence spokesman said the country would "respond to reckless counter-measure with an all-out war of justice", the state KCNA news agency reported.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said Beijing had "noted" the report and would make its own assessment, but called on both sides to exercise restraint.

The Cheonan went down near the disputed inter-Korean maritime border, raising tension between the two nations, which technically remain at war.

The shattered wreck of the 1,200-tonne gunboat was later winched to the surface, in two pieces, for examination.

Investigators examined eyewitness accounts, damage to the vessel, evidence collected from the seabed and the injuries sustained by survivors and those who died.

There had earlier been a number of explanations suggested for the sinking, including an accidental collision with an unexploded sea mine left over from the Korean War.

Mr Lee's presidential office said he had told Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd his government would be taking firm measures against the North, and through international co-operation would make the North admit wrongdoing.

Japan's Prime Minister said in a statement that North Korea's action was "unforgivable".

Yukio Hatoyama said Japan would support South Korea if it sought a UN Security Council resolution against North Korea.

However the BBC's John Sudworth in Seoul says agreeing on an international response will be difficult as the diplomatic options will be limited.

Thailand Eyewitness: Under Fire in Bangkok (Buncombe)

Andrew Buncombe, who was wounded by gunfire while covering events in Bangkok yesterday, writes for The Independent of London:

There was nothing for us to do but take cover, as the incoming fire sprayed and hissed. People lay flat, terrified, crouched behind cars, tried to squeeze themselvesinto the meagre protection offered by the wheel hubs. They took cover frantically, diving behind not just cars, but trucks, trees and even flower pots.

This was near to the entrance of a Buddhist temple, a supposed oasis, a place of prayer. But we knew its sanctity had been fatally breached when the crack of rifles and the sound of bullets ricocheted close to the temple's souvenir shop.

Thailand Latest: Fires and Curfew in Bangkok

One after the other, the injured were carried, rushed and dragged inside the temple compound. On bamboo mats, blankets anything to hand, they were carried in bloodied and screaming. Fearless Red Shirt volunteers did what they could. They used towels, bandages and plasters to try to treat ugly bullet wounds that needed surgery, not first aid kits.


The sign outside the temple says "apayatan" a word indicating that here in the centre of Bangkok is a safe zone – a haven. Yesterday afternoon, as buildings across the Thai capital blazed, thick black smoke billowing into the air, the streets outside the revered, 15O-year-old Buddhist compound had been transformed into an ugly, lethal battle zone from which no one could leave.

Of those killed yesterday, several died directly outside the temple – and many, many more wounded. Those sheltering inside the temple were just as vulnerable. In one of the compound's buildings, seven bodies were laid out on the floor.

Early yesterday, thousands of Red Shirt protesters fled the intersection that they had occupied for more than two months after government troops finally forced their way into the barricaded encampment and the protest leaders told them it "was all over". They moved to occupy the sprawling temple area, at the centre of which sits a series of gold-edged buildings. The mood was tense and anxious, but people believed – or so they prayed and hoped – that the troops would not turn their temple into a place of violence.

"After the leadership told us to go home, we came here. They told us it was all over," said one of the Red Shirts, a woman who had taken shelter within the compound. Another woman, Malee Ngaun Sanga, added: "As long as I have lived here I have never seen any government so evil."

And then things rapidly changed. From the west, we could hear loud firing as troops advanced towards the temple area. Some reporters who had been outside said that a small number of Red Shirts were firing back with sling-slots, hand guns and petrol bombs. A photographer said he saw a man shot in front of him as he ran away from a line of soldiers, two bullets hitting him in the back and apparently exiting from the chest. The image that photographer had taken did not look good.

Suddenly the firing intensified. The explosions grew louder and appeared to get nearer to us and the crack of weapons became more frequent, their cap-gun noises giving no clue as to their deadly capability.

A bare-chested young man ran in. He had a large, ugly hole in the lower back. Was he struck as he ran or had he already been wounded when he came in? It was too frenetic, too chaotic to be sure. Either way, as soon as they became aware of his injuries, a group of medics ran to his aid, dragging him to what they hoped was safety. The medics turned him over on to his stomach, pressing down with bandages and towels. One woman in particular appeared utterly fearless.

Soon afterwards, another victim was rushed in through the entrance to the temple. He appeared older, frail. It looked as if he had been shot in the shoulder. Once again, the volunteer medics rushed to his help. The man's moans were soft amid the ongoing clatter of gunfire.

That's when I –-- one of just a handful of journalists still present at the temple –-- was hit in the outer thigh by what appeared to be several pieces of shrapnel. They later transpired to be large pellets from a shotgun that buried themselves deep –-- perhaps three inches –-- into the flesh. Where had this shooting come from? Were soldiers now deliberately firing at journalists or did they simply not care? The medics dived over, pouring cold water on the burning wound and pressing down bandages to stop them. It was effectively just a bad flesh wound but the fragments of lead burned and stung. There were countless people with wounds, but the medics – who had set up a pharmacy and emergency clinic amid the temple's lush, exotic foliage could have done no more.

Precisely which positions the firing was coming from was unclear and why the troops would be shooting so widely, with so little caution, was unclear. Was it coming from snipers or from the regular troops? It seems almost certain it was coming from the troops. And who within the chain of command was ordering troops to fire so recklessly, so close to so many people, the vast overwhelming majority of whom were unarmed, unthreatening and who – as they had been asked by the authorities – had just left their place in the city centre. Had they had an opportunity to leave, safely, then they would have. Everyone recognised this was the end of their struggle, or at least this stage of it. Pressing, vital questions need to be answered by the highest levels.

Last night, the temple, built during the era of King Rama IV when the surrounding area was lakes and canals rather than sky-scrapers and shopping malls, was a cross between a refugee camp and a hospital. As orange-clad monks chanted prayers, people went about the task of trying to find a place to sleep, laying down sleeping mats, trying to arrange something to eat. Most had the most meagre possessions, many washing their single change of clothes every day. The mood was one of anxiety and uncertainty. How long would they have to stay?

The terrible irony was that a well-equipped police hospital – where staff had supposedly been preparing for this day for months in advance – was located just yards from the entrance to the temple. The road outside – now a deadly shooting gallery – was simply too dangerous to cross.

What was incongruous was why the injured could not be moved to safety. Some of the Red Shirts said that hardcore elements were still firing at the troops, who they feared would respond with the heavy weapons which they had been firing all day. With an 8pm curfew imposed and people too petrified to move, there was little option but for us to be laid out on deckchairs, stretchers or mats. Some sat quietly, others moaned. There was a feeling of utter helplessness.

Eventually, after the intervention of the office of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva – the man whom the protesters have been so desperately seeking to remove from office – some sort of ceasefire deal was brokered. Had the injured not included a foreign journalist whose Canadian colleague and translator made furious efforts to get help, would so many, high-level efforts have been made? Perhaps not. Either way, the Red Cross was able to send ambulances in convoy to the temple to take away the most badly injured. They said the injured women and children would be collected later today.

The injured were removed, with priority given to those most badly hurt.

The first to leave was the man shot in the lower back. Next was a man shot in the leg. As he was lifted on the stretcher and carried towards the ambulances, he moaned and cried. He pressed his palms together as if to say a prayer, perhaps both for himself and his country.

A man who had been shot in the thigh and I were taken out in the final two ambulances. That man's name was Narongsak Singmae, he was 49 and from the north-east of the country. As he lay waiting to be taken away to hospital, he said: "I cannot believe they are shooting in a temple."

UPDATED Thailand Latest: Fires and Curfew in Bangkok

UPDATE 1425 GMT: The overnight curfew, announced on TV channels under control of the Government, has been extended to 21 provinces across Thailand. There have been arson attacks and protests in at least seven provinces, including the burning of town halls in three major cities.



Fighting has continued in Bangkok, notably outside the Wat Patum temple.

UPDATE 1155 GMT: Associated Press summarises that fires were set at the Stock Exchange, several banks, the headquarters of the Metropolitan Electricity Authority, the high-end Central World shopping mall, and a cinema complex that collapsed.

Thailand Latest: Protestors Ready for Talks? (Fuller/Mydans)

Four protesters and an Italian news photographer were killed and about 60 people wounded in the Army's storming of the protest camp.


UPDATE 1055 GMT: Central World, Southeast Asia's second-largest department store, has been destroyed.

UPDATE 0945 GMT: Far from stopping the protests, the request of the surrendering Red Shirt leaders seems only to have prompted a spread of fighting. There are reports of at least five fires; among the buildings attacked are the Stock Exchange and Channel 3 Television. Residents are trying to flee deluxe apartment complexes.

Authorities have declared a curfew from 8 p.m. local time.

UPDATE 0735 GMT: Thai television has shown several Red Shirt leaders addressing a crowd in Lumpini Park, the centre of the protests, calling off the demonstration to avoid further bloodshed. The leaders said they would turn themselves in to Thai authorities.

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Al Jazeera English posts the latest news from Bangkok:

Thai soldiers and armoured carriers have punched through barricades and moved into the main encampment of anti-government protesters in Bangkok.

Al Jazeera's Wayne Hay, reporting from inside the breached protest site on Wednesday, said the well organised and well armed troops moved quickly through the first kilometre of the protest site, towards the main stage where the leaders of the so-called red shirts were believed to be.

But they then stopped about a kilometre from the stage amid some exchange of gunfire with red shirt guards.

At least two bodies – suspected to be killed red shirt guards - were seen being removed from the area, our correspondent said, and the Thai Red Cross has appealed for blood donations.

Jongjet Aoajenpong, the director of Police hospital, was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying that an Italian journalist was shot in the stomach and "died before arriving at the hospital".

Red shirts divided

Al Jazeera's Aela Callan, also reporting from Bangkok, said women and children were still in the 3-sq-km protest area.

But the area in front of the stage appeared to be thinning out, she said, and protesters and leaders appeared divided: some seemed to want to fight the troops but others were just sitting on the ground, waiting to see what would happen.

There were also reports that at least one of the red shirt leaders had fled the scene but they could not be immediately confirmed.

About 100 soldiers armed with automatic rifles and shotguns, along with several machine gun mounted armoured personnel carriers, breached the red shirts' barricade at the southern end of their protest site on Wednesday.

The armoured vehicles had repeatedly rammed the barricade made up largely of tyres, sharpened bamboo poles and razor wire before breaking through the flattened structure.

Troops and red shirts had been periodically exchanging gunfire before the soldiers broke through the barricade.

The military appeared to be moving slowly in their operation, and it was possible that they were leaving the north relatively open for red shirts to leave their encampment.

Earlier in the morning, troops used loudspeakers to tell protesters at the protest site in Bangkok's high-end Rachaprasong shopping district to go home, saying their lives were in danger, our correspondent said.

Guerrilla war warning

Sean Boonpracong, a red shirt spokesman speaking to Al Jazeera from Bangkok, warned that if the troops entered the protest site, "this will be a second Tiananmen Square", referring to China's deadly crackdown on demonstrators in 1989.

"You will see the biggest massacre ever aired on television," he said.

And Thaksin Shinawatra, the ousted Thai prime minister whom many of the red shirts support, said on Wednesday that he feared a military crackdown could lead to guerrilla warfare across the country.

"There is a theory saying a military crackdown can spread resentment and these resentful people will become guerrillas," Thaksin told the Reuters news agency by telephone.

Government claims success

The government said hours after launching the offensive on Wednesday that the "security operation ... has been successful".

Panitan Wattanayagorn, a government spokesman, also said on television that protest leaders had fled the area, and called on citizens to report protest leaders if they were spotted outside the camp.

But one of the protest leaders, Nattawut Saikua, appeared on stage in the protest zone several minutes before Panitan spoke and said he had not fled.

The government offered safe passage to unarmed, civilian protesters after moving into the protest camp and said buses were waiting to send them home.

Soldiers were heard shouting that protesters' lives were in danger if they did not surrender.

The authorities had warned the red shirts to leave their protest site by 3 p.m. (0800 GMT) on Monday, saying that those who remained faced two years in prison.

However, the protesters defied the order and the deadline passed without any action being taken.

Wednesday's military operation comes after the government rejected holding further negotiations with the red shirts until they left their rally site.

A mediation proposal, floated by a group of 64 senators in the 150-member upper house on Tuesday, was accepted by the protesters but rejected by Abhisit Vejjajiva, the prime minister.

Satit Wonghnongtaey, a government minister, said while Abhisit welcomed negotiations, the government insisted "talks will happen only after the protest has ended".

The crisis, which began when demonstrations were launched in mid-March, has now left around 70 people dead and about 1,700 wounded.

Thailand Latest: Protestors Ready for Talks? (Fuller/Mydans)

Thomas Fuller and Seth Mydans provide latest news from Thailand in The New York Times:

Leaders of the antigovernment red-shirt protesters said Tuesday they were prepared to negotiate with the government to halt five days of street fighting that threatened to spiral further out of control.

“We have agreed to a new round of talks proposed by the Senate because if we allow things to go on like this, we don’t know how many more lives will be lost,” said the leader Nattawut Saikua, speaking at a news conference in the heart of a neighborhood that has been occupied by demonstrators for six weeks.

Thailand Latest: Opposition General Dies, Fresh Fighting (BBC)

There was no immediate word on the government’s response to his offer. Fighting has raged in Bangkok since May 13, causing at least 36 deaths and turning an area of the city into a battlefield.



Chaotic gun battles in central Bangkok on Sunday and Monday marked a new phase in the city’s spiraling violence, as residents hoarded food and the government warned die-hard protesters that they should leave their encampment or risk “harmful” consequences.

Protesters roaming the lawless streets of a strategically important neighborhood near the protest zone threatened to set fire to a gasoline truck as bonfires, some from piles of tires, sent large plumes of black, acrid smoke into the sky. Earlier on Monday, a rogue Thai general who was shot in the head last week died.

Security forces armed with assault rifles were deployed in greater numbers across the city after many firefights, including a nighttime grenade attack on the five-star Dusit Thani Bangkok Hotel, a landmark in the city. The attack and a subsequent prolonged gun battle suggested that Thai security forces were up against more than just protesters with slingshots and bamboo staves. The mayhem of the crackdown, which follows two months of demonstrations by protesters who are seeking the resignation of the government, has made it difficult to understand who is battling whom.

The government suggested that Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister who was ousted in a 2006 coup, was behind the shadowy forces battling the army on Bangkok streets.

Satit Wongnongtoei, an official in the prime minister’s office, spoke of a “commander who lives overseas” who is intent on “causing violence and loss of life as much as they can by using weapons of war.” Mr. Thaksin is reported to live mostly in Dubai.

The government on Sunday issued a ban on certain banking transactions linked to companies and accounts held by Mr. Thaksin and his family.

The protest movement defiantly encamped in Bangkok began as a reaction to Mr. Thaksin’s ouster, but it has expanded into a social movement as less affluent segments of Thai society rebel against what they say is an elite group that tries to control Thailand’s democratic institutions.

On Sunday, Mr. Thaksin issued a statement through his lawyer that called on “all sides to step back from this terrible abyss and seek to begin a new, genuine and sincere dialogue between the parties.”

It seems plausible that some of the attacks in recent days have been carried out by disaffected elements of the military or the police. The attack on the Dusit Thani Bangkok Hotel in the early hours of Monday may have been a retaliatory move by a faction loyal to Maj. Gen. Khattiya Sawatdiphol, the renegade officer allied with the protesters who was shot on Thursday and died Monday. Security experts speculate that General Khattiya was shot by a sniper stationed at the hotel, which has in recent weeks served as a base for hundreds of security personnel.

The government has insisted that soldiers fire only in self-defense, but the death toll has been lopsidedly among civilians. Government statistics said that 34 civilians and 2 soldiers — counting the general — had been killed since Thursday, and 256 people had been wounded, almost all of them civilians.

Protesters have attributed some of the deaths to snipers who are stationed in several places around the city on top of tall buildings.

The Foreign Ministry explained in a memo distributed Monday that the sharpshooters had been deployed to “look out for danger and protect others.”

With the apparent involvement of various armed groups, the fighting may have moved beyond the point where any protest leader can declare an effective cease-fire.

The protest site, in the heart of Bangkok’s main commercial district, which at its peak was filled with tens of thousands of demonstrators, had thinned to perhaps 2,000 protesters on Monday afternoon. Where entire families had camped in a festive atmosphere, mostly men remained.

Army aircraft circled above the site, dropping leaflets urging people to leave. Guards in black with red scarves escorted people who chose to leave. A man circulated among the guards handing out small packets of sticky rice along with 100-baht bills, worth about $3.

Protesters filled small energy drink bottles with gasoline and then demonstrated their plan to propel them by swinging a golf club. Small groups of people occasionally pointed at department stores where they said they believed snipers were hidden.

Outside the site of the sit-in, on Rama IV Road, where much of the worst fighting has taken place, trucks loaded with tires raced in, unloaded them as if at a racetrack pit stop, and sped away. Crowds watching from a safe distance applauded. The tires were stacked by the road to replenish a burning barricade.

Tension radiated from the battle zone, and at one point unknown gunmen carried out an attack on a hospital.

Hundreds of businesses and bank branches were closed after the violence caused the government to declare a national holiday and postpone the opening of schools.

The American Embassy in Bangkok canceled a “town hall” meeting about the security situation scheduled for Tuesday because of the risk that those attending would be put in “harm’s way,” a statement from the embassy said Monday. Embassy officials will instead use the Internet to address concerns of Americans living in Bangkok.

Thailand Latest: Opposition General Dies, Fresh Fighting (BBC)

The BBC provides latest news on the political crisis in Thailand:

Renegade Thai general Khattiya Sawasdipol, who was shot on Thursday as he backed protesters in Bangkok, has died, hospital officials have said.

The announcement came amid fresh fighting between the protesters and soldiers after Thai officials rejected a demand for UN-backed talks.

Thailand Latest: Curfew and Ultimatum (AP and BBC)

The government has called on protesters to leave the camp by mid-afternoon or face the prospect of two years in jail.

Thirty-six people have been killed in the violence since Thursday.


Maj Gen Khattiya, known as Seh Daeng (Commander Red), was shot in the head on Thursday as he spoke to a New York Times journalist within the protesters' rally site.

He had been in a critical condition in hospital and had not been expected to pull through.

His shooting marked the beginning of clashes between soldiers and protesters that have raged on-and-off since then.

It is not clear who shot him, but some among the protesters were quick to blame army snipers.

A minute's silence was held for the general at the protesters' camp in the Ratchaprasong district, with some demonstrators in tears.

'A lot of shooting'

About 5,000 people remain in the encampment in the Ratchaprasong, where food and water are running low amid a blockade on the area.

In a television announcement, the government told protesters - particularly women, children and the elderly - to leave the vast camp by 1500 (0800 GMT), saying they would be given free transport home.

Hundreds of women and children have sought refuge in a nearby temple. But Thai media report that many protesters are refusing to take up the offer of safe passage, fearing it is a ruse by the government to arrest or even kill them.

The fresh fighting overnight along a street of upmarket hotels saw the first death among the soldiers, officials said.

Guests at one of the hotels, the Dusit Thani, were rushed from their rooms into the building's basement after gunfire and explosions shook the area.

"Everybody was evacuated from their room and spent the night in the basement," a photographer for the Reuters news agency said. "There was a lot of shooting."
Besides the deaths, about 200 people have been injured in the clashes. Previous violence since the protests began in March has left more than 60 people dead and at least 1,600 wounded.

The Dusit Thani hotel is across from Lumpini Park in a district of expensive hotels, embassies and shopping malls that has been taken over by the protesters.
Army sharpshooters behind sand-bagged barricades have been firing live rounds at protesters.

Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said troops were "not using weapons to crack down on civilians". He said armed "terrorists" among the protesters were being targeted.

The protesters, called red-shirts after the colour they have adopted, have been throwing stones, petrol bombs and fireworks at the soldiers and setting barricades of tyres on fire.

There have been reports that some among them are armed.

The latest fighting broke out after the government rejected a call from a red-shirt leader, Nattawut Saikua, to hold UN-moderated talks to end the stand-off, providing the army withdrew from the area around the red-shirt camp.

Panitan Wattanayagorn insisted that no outside help was needed.

"We reject their demands for UN mediation... No Thai government has ever let anyone intervene with our internal affairs," he said.

Protests spread

A state of emergency has now been declared in 22 provinces across the country - mostly in the protesters' northern heartlands - in a bid to stop more demonstrators heading to the capital.

Protests have spread outside the capital with a military bus set afire in the northern city of Chiang Mai and demonstrations in two north-eastern towns in defiance of a government ban.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has declared Monday and Tuesday as public holidays and delayed the start of Bangkok's school term, but a planned curfew was cancelled.

He has already said the army will not back down in its operation to clear the protesters.

Many of the protesters are from poor rural areas in northern Thailand where support is still strong for former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup.

He is living abroad to avoid a jail term on a corruption conviction.

The protesters say the current government is illegitimate, having come to power in a parliamentary vote after a pro-Thaksin government was forced to step down in December 2008 by a Constitutional Court ruling that it had committed electoral fraud.