Soldier killed in Thailand standoffT

Clashes between Thai security forces and anti-government protesters in Bangkok have left at least one soldier dead and 18 people wounded.

Thai troops fired live rounds in the air and shot rubber bullets at anti-government protesters on a highway in Bangkok's suburbs.

The soldiers were trying to stop a convoy of up to 2,000 protesters who had left their rally base in central Bangkok and were heading for a business district in the north of the capital. The area is under a state of emergency.

They have occupied Bangkok's business center since April 3, demanding the government hold snap elections.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's loyalists have called on the government to crack down on the red-shirt opposition supporters.

The red-shirts are mainly supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and was later sentenced to two years in jail for alleged corruption.

Thaksin now lives in exile to avoid prison. Nevertheless, the former prime minister remains popular among the rural poor.

Ongoing violence has left at least 27 people dead and hundreds of others injured over the past month.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=124745§ionid=351020406.