Thai army crackdown to continue

Rapid gunfire and explosions echoed before dawn Monday outside the luxury hotels bordering the barricaded protest zone in Bangkok after Thai authoritiesrejected an offer fromprotest leadersto take part inUN-mediated peace talks to endthe chaos.

A Reuters photographerreported heavy fighting during the night at theupscale Dusit Thani Hotelopposite one of the barricades set up by the protesters around theirencampment.

The governmentsaid Sundayits moves againstthe Red Shirt anti-government demonstratorswill continue and it called on their leaders to surrender.

At least 30 people have been killed in four days of street fighting.

A pause by the Thai military is unnecessary since troops are "not using weapons to crack down on civilians," said government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn. The government maintains it is only targeting armed "terrorists" among the demonstrators.

In a sign the military may escalateefforts to dismantle the camp, thearmy called onprotesters toremove all women, children and the elderly from behind the barricadesby Monday afternoon.

Red Cross workers could be seen Sunday helping with the evacuation.Hundreds of people have been bused to a Buddhist temple compound near the protest zone.

Troops and army sharpshooters havesurrounded the three-square-kilometre area in downtown Bangkok, where anti-government demonstrators haveerected barricades of tires, sandbagsand bamboo spikes.

Supplies not reachingprotest zone

The protest camp, set up in mid-March, is said to be running out of food, water and other supplies. Between 3,000 and 5,000 protesters remain behindbarricades in the Ratchaprasong commercial district,according to local media.

About10,000 protesters were camped out before fighting started Thursday after a sniper shot and seriously wounded a Red Shirt leader, a former army general whosecondition worsened Sunday.

The latest deaths raise to 59 the number of people killedsince April 10.

Thailand's main emergency medical centre said 232 people have been wounded in clashes that began Thursday. Erawan Emergency Center said Sunday all those killed in recent days were civilians.

Security forces have used tear gas, rubber bullets and live rounds on demonstrators, who are armed with gasoline bombs, slingshots and sharpened bamboo sticks.

The military cancelled plans to impose a nighttime curfew Sunday, but thecentre of the Thai capital still resembles a curfew zone with no public transport or private vehicles in view.

Most shops, hotels, supermarkets and businesses in the area are closed, while the government has shut off power and water to the core protest zone.