Rebel Officers Proclaim Thai Takeover

A revolutionary group announced that it seized power in Thailand early today, but loyalist forces moved in with tanks in an attempt to quell the uprising.

NBC News’ Bangkok bureau chief, Neil Davis, an Australian, was killed by a tank-fired artillery shell during the street fighting, according to Bruce MacDonnell, NBC’s general manager for Asia and the Pacific. MacDonnell also said that NBC sound technician William Latch, an American, had been wounded in the legs and was hospitalized in fair condition.

The so-called Revolutionary Party said in a statement broadcast over Radio Thailand that its troops, led by a former armed forces commander, Gen. Serm Nanakorn, have taken power because of “the seriously deteriorating economy.”

The broadcast ordered the dissolution of the constitution and Parliament and said anyone not obeying the new leaders’ orders will be “dealt with decisively.”

Troops and tanks ringed the royal palace, Parliament and Government House, where the prime minister’s office is situated.

About four hours later, intermittent firing began at the compound of the 1st Army Region Headquarters. Tanks apparently manned by soldiers supporting the coup opened fire, and the sound of machine-gun and pistol fire and exploding grenades could be heard.

After the Revolutionary Party’s coup announcement, a rival radio station taken over by loyalist forces broadcast an order urging all troops to return to their barracks. The order was issued in the name of the deputy army commander, Gen. Thienchai Sirisamphan.

An hour later, the rebel troops remained at their posts at key government buildings.

As the coup was announced, Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanonda was on a visit to Indonesia. Later in the day, in a message read by the Thai ambassador in Jakarta, Prem asserted that the coup had failed and that he is returning to Bangkok. The envoy, Rongpet Sucharitkul, asserted that “everything is now under control,” adding, “the coup was conducted by a small element.”

The Thai armed forces commander, Gen. Arthit Kamlang-ek, meanwhile, was on a tour of Europe. Thailand’s constitutional monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and Queen Sirikit were also away from the capital, at their summer retreat in the south of the country.

Gen. Serm, who said he was assuming the position of armed forces commander, asserted in his broadcast that members of the royal family had been taken under “protective custody” for their safety, but this could not be immediately confirmed.

Radio Thailand later played songs praising the king and queen, and some of the tanks at Government House carried portraits of Bhumibol. The monarchy is the greatest unifying symbol in the country and has helped determine the success or failure of previous attempts to change governments.

Prime Minister Prem, an army general, has led a four-party coalition government that won the last general election in April, 1983. His government has given unusual stability to Thai politics. In the past 50 years, Thailand has had 14 coups or coup attempts.

Recent austerity measures imposed by Prem’s coalition government have depressed Thailand’s economy. Late last year, the Thai currency was devalued, a move that drew some military criticism.