Thailand government continues crackdown

BANGKOK (AP) - The Thai government has claimed that the army has been successful in its initial push to clear a protest zone in central Bangkok.

Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn claimed protest leaders have fled the area. But one of the leaders, Nattawut Saikua, appeared on stage in the protest zone several minutes before Panitan spoke and said he has not fled.

Channel 9 television station also said that Nattawut and two other leaders were still in the protest zone early today.

Thai soldiers with armored vehicles stormed into a fortified anti-government encampment early today in central Bangkok, breaking through bamboo barricades and killing at least two protesters in a crackdown after weeks of clashes that have killed dozens.

Once inside the protest zone, troops fired M-16 rifles at fleeing protesters and shouted, "Come out and surrender or we'll kill you."

An Associated Press reporter who followed the troops into the protest camp saw the bodies of two men sprawled on the ground, one with a head wound and other apparently shot in the upper body. They were the first known casualties in the assault that began before dawn Wednesday on a stretch of downtown Bangkok that protesters have occupied for weeks.

It was not clear how many protesters were still inside the encampment.

As troops entered the fringes of the area, they passed smoldering fires and hastily abandoned campsites where clothes were still hanging on laundry lines. Shoes were scattered, chairs were overturned and a huge pile of rice was covered with flies.