BANGKOK, April 2 — An anti-Thai government protester was shot dead and four others wounded Tuesday when their motorcade was attacked near a Chaeng Wattana expressway toll gate.
The victims, supporters of the Network for Students and People for Reform of Thailand (NSPRT), allies of the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), were returning from a rally at the Chaeng Wattana Government Complex when they were fired on by unknown assailants.
The protesters want caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to step down to make way for an interim government to oversee reforms.
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s Erawan Emergency Medical Centre said a 52-year-old man was killed and four others were wounded in the attack at around 2.30pm.
NSPRT spokesman Pansuwan Na Kaew said that the dead man was a volunteer guard for the group and was shot as he stood on a truck when the vehicle has just passing the toll gate of the Chaeng Wattana expressway. The gunmen were believed to have hidden in a highrise building.
The victim was identified as Army Sgt-Maj 1st Class Wasan Khamwong. Shot in the head, he was pronounced dead at hospital.
The others, two men and two women, were wounded and were sent to nearby hospitals.
