As we predicted yesterday, the shooting has started in Thailand.
Thai troops fired bullets and tear gas at anti-government protesters rioting near the U.S. and Japanese embassies Friday as an army push to clear the streets sparked deadly clashes and turned central Bangkok into a virtual war zone.
Violence escalated after a rogue army general regarded as a military advisor to the Red Shirt protesters was shot in the head on Thursday evening, possibly by a sniper, leaving him in critical condition. Ensuing street clashes have killed two people and wounded at least 13 others, including a Thai photographer and a foreign journalist.
With security deteriorating and hopes of a peaceful resolution to the two-month standoff fading, unrest plunged Thailand deeper into political uncertainty, threatening the country's stability, economy and already-decimated tourism industry.
Friday's violence was initially centered on a small area home to several foreign embassies, but by midafternoon had spread to other areas around the protest zone.
Soldiers crouched behind a raised road divider in one area and fired rubber bullets, live ammunition and tear gas shells. Army vehicles were seen speeding on deserted streets littered with stones and debris. Protesters retreated and hurled rocks and insults.
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Meanwhile, the fallout of the coup in Kyrgyzstan continues as supporters of the deposed president clash with the 'government'.
Gunfire erupted in Kyrgyzstan when thousands of interim government supporters attempted to retake a regional government building occupied by backers of deposed President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, injuring more than 30 people Friday, officials and witnesses said.
The clashes broke out at the compound of the regional government headquarters in Jalal-Abad. Around 200 Bakiyev supporters, some with automatic rifles, holed up in the government building overnight after capturing it Thursday evening.
Elsewhere, hundreds of people ejected a crowd that had occupied the regional government offices in Osh, about 70 kilometers (45 miles) from Jalal-Abad.
Both cities are in Kyrgyzstan's south, the power base for Bakiyev, who was ousted April 7 amid clashes in the capital between government forces and protesters that left at least 85 people dead.
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And Indonesia dodges a close one in an uncovered terror plot.
Indonesian police announced Friday they had uncovered and foiled a plot to assassinate the president and other top officials, massacre foreigners in Mumbai-style attacks and declare an Islamic state.
The attackers planned to launch their assault during this year's Independence Day ceremony to be attended Aug. 17 by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the country's top dignitaries, national police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri told reporters.
The plot also included taking over hotels and killing foreigners, especially Americans, in violence that would have been reminiscent of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, he said. The plot was revealed during interrogations of dozens of suspects arrested since a February raid on a terrorist training camp in the western province of Aceh, Danuri said.
"They were confident that all state officials and dignitaries would be there," Danuri said. "Killing all the state officials would have accelerated the transition from a democracy to a state controlled by Islamic Shariah law."
Some of the newest information on the plot came from a series of raids this week on militant hideouts in and around the capital that yielded 20 arrests as well as a supply of assault rifles, ammunition, telescopes and jihadist literature. Five suspected militants were killed in those raids.
By: Brant
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