Renegade Thai General Vows 'Civil War' Before Being Shot
Ousted major general who led protesters is struck by a bullet to the
head.
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BANGKOK-A renegade Thai general shot here Thursday as the military
planned to encircle barricaded antigovernment demonstrators predicted
that the protests would become "civil warfare," in an interview with
Radio Free Asia (RFA) just hours before he was struck in the head with a
bullet.
"It is an insurgency warfare that will be developed into civil warfare.
The mobs are flaring and other demonstrators from other provinces will
join in," Maj. Gen. Khattiya Sawatdiphol, 59, known as Seh Daeng, said
in one of his last interviews before the shooting.
"So they won't care if their tap water and power are cut off. They have
their own supplies. They don't care about the sky train. They have
abundant food supplies and they can even sneak out to get them," said
Khattiya, who claimed to be in direct contact with ousted Thai premier
Thaksin Shinawatra.
"There is no question of what next. They don't know. The People's Army
are programmed to demand the dissolution of Parliament. If the tanks
come in-if anything comes in to bother them-they will fight, and they
don't need training from me."
"They removed the bolts [from military armored personnel carriers or
APCs], stomped on them, sprayed fire extinguishers into the APCs, and
the soldiers fled like pigs. When the protesters were shot and fell
down, they stood up and picked up the shields, and sprayed the soldiers
with curry and hot water," he said.
News agencies quoted an aide as saying Khattiya was shot in the head by
a sniper, but this couldn't be independently confirmed and police
couldn't be reached to comment. Local media reports said he was taken to
Hua Chiew Hospital after Chulalongkorn Hospital refused to treat him.
Khattiya is a renegade army major general whom the government has
branded a "terrorist" and a mastermind behind violence from
anti-government protesters. He was suspended from the army and became a
fugitive from justice, although he continued to move freely about the
capital.
Khattiya, 58, was struck in the head by a bullet during an interview
with the International Herald Tribune at about 7 p.m. on the street in
central Bangkok, the newspaper reported.
After a loud bang, "the general fell to the ground, with his eyes wide
open, and protesters took his apparently lifeless body to the hospital,
screaming out his nickname," the newspaper said online.
Crackdown expected
The report of Khattiya's shooting came after sounds of gunfire and at
least four explosions.
Khattiya, who helped build the barricades paralyzing downtown Bangkok,
was accused of creating a paramilitary force among the anti-government
protesters and had vowed to fight the army in the event of a crackdown.
A reporter for TNN television said electricity went out late Thursday in
the Red Shirt protest zone in Rajprasong, an upscale retail and
residential area they have occupied since April 3.
The Red Shirts, many from the rural poor, are demanding an immediate
dissolution of Parliament, alleging that Prime Minister Abhisit
Vejjajiva's coalition government came to power illegitimately through
manipulation of the courts and support from the powerful military.
Original reporting and translation from the Thai by RFA staff in
Bangkok. Additional reporting by news agencies. Executive producer:
Susan Lavery. Written and produced in English by Sarah Jackson-Han.
Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and
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