Dissident Thai General Shot During Interview

Posted on May 13, 2010

nytimes.com

There are the red shirts, and there are also the black shirts—a group of Thai dissidents, led by rebel Gen. Khattiya Sawatdiphol until he was shot in the head Thursday, apparently by a sniper, as he was being interviewed by New York Times reporter Thomas Fuller in Bangkok. His injury was described as “severe.” —KA

The New York Times:

The general, Khattiya Sawatdiphol, 58, was struck in the head by a bullet during an interview with this reporter about 7 p.m. on the street in central Bangkok, near a park occupied by his hard-line followers. This reporter, who was facing the general and about two feet away, heard a loud bang not unlike a firecracker. 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.

“Seh Daeng has been shot! Seh Daeng has been shot!” protesters shouted amid growing panic.

[...] The general was abhorred by both the government for disloyalty and also by most of the protest leaders for what they suspected was his role in fomenting violence. Still, he had assumed control of security for the protesters, placing his own black-shirted paramilitary fighters at entrances to the makeshift barriers around their encampment, and he claimed the loyalty of a small but intense group of protesters.

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