Renegade army chief in protests wounded by sniper

Shortly before he was hit Maj Gen Khattiya Sawasdiphol said he expected the military to move in soon to the area of central Bangkok which has been occupied by thousands of the protesters for weeks.

"It's either dusk or dawn when the troops will go in," he said. He was shot soon after night fell.

An aide who answered Khattiya's mobile phone described the injury as "severe".

"Seh Daeng was shot in the head," said the aide, referring to Khattiya by his nickname.

The government's medical emergency centre confirmed the injury and said he was admitted to the intensive care unit at a hospital.

Earlier, gunfire and explosions echoed through central Bangkok after the government warned it was going to seal off the area occupied by the thousands of protesters.

It had earlier said that troops would not hesitate to shoot armed "terrorists" who resisted.

Armoured personnel carriers and snipers surrounded the protesters who have barricaded themselves behind piles of tyres and bamboo spears in the square mile area, according to Col Sansern Kaewkamnerd, spokesman of the agency charged with ending the protest.

The agency "has shifted its strategy toward complete blockade and interception," he said.

Separately, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajvia said he had rescinded his offer to hold elections on November 14 because the protesters refused to end their sit-in.

The Red Shirt protesters believe Abhisit's coalition government came to power illegitimately through manipulation of the courts and the backing of the powerful military, and they have occupied parts of the capital since March 12 to demand new elections.

The Red Shirts, many from the rural poor, are demanding an immediate dissolution of Parliament.

Tens of thousands of them streamed into the capital on March 12 and occupied an area in the historic district of Bangkok. An army attempt to clear them on April 10 led to clashes that killed 25 people and wounded more than 800. Another four people were killed in related clashes in the following weeks.

Yesterday's shooting will only deepen fears of more bloodshed.

Khattiya is a renegade army major general whom the government has labelled a "terrorist" and a mastermind behind some of the violence.

He bitterly opposed reconciling with the government and had recently become critical of Red Shirt leaders, some of whom had wanted to accept a government proposal to end Thailand's political crisis.

Khattiya, who helped construct the Red Shirt barricades of sharpened bamboo stakes and tyres around the protest area, was accused of creating a paramilitary force among the anti-government protesters and had vowed to battle the army if it launched a crackdown.

He accused Red Shirt leaders of taking government bribes to accept Abhisit's reconciliation plan to hold elections on November 14. However, the plan was abandoned after the Red Shirts made new demands and refused to leave.

"The prime minister and the Red Shirts were on the verge of striking a deal but then I came in. Suddenly, I became an important person," he said.

"This time, the people's army will fight the army. There is no need to teach the people how to fight. There are no forms or plan of attack. You let them fight with their own strategies."

Khattiya was suspended from the army in January and became a fugitive last month after when an arrest warrant was issued against him and two dozen others linked to the Red Shirts for their purported roles in the violence. Yet he has wandered freely through the protest zone, signing autographs just yards from security forces watching the protesters.

Earlier yesterday, an army spokesman said troops were preparing to impose a lockdown on the square-mile area where the Red Shirts have barricaded themselves in an upmarket area of shopping malls, hotels and apartments.