No Thai troop pullout from Iraq
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BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Thailand's prime minister has vowed to keep his nation's troops in Iraq despite calls from the opposition for a withdrawal following the death of two Thai soldiers -- the first fatalities among its noncombatant force in Iraq.
The two dead troops were on guard duty when a car rammed the wall of their camp in the southern Iraqi city of Karbala and exploded on Saturday, Thai officials said.
"We will continue to work for humanitarian ends ... The next batch of troops are preparing and making themselves ready. They are ready to go to Iraq as scheduled. Nobody has changed their mind, their morale is still good," Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told reporters.
The deaths of the two soldiers received front-page attention in Thailand's media on Sunday. The Bangkok Post newspaper reported that the deaths were the nation's first overseas fatalities since the Vietnam War.
The Nation daily reported that Thai military commanders held an emergency meeting late Saturday after hearing the news.
Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Kraisak Choonhavan, a strong opponent of Thailand's decision to deploy troops to Iraq, said Thai soldiers are not safe there and should not have to "sacrifice their lives for nothing."
"I have called several other senators who have supported my idea of making another request to the government to withdraw from Iraq," he told reporters. "It is the time for the government to review its position on the remaining troops in Iraq."
Following the Thai decision to deploy troops to Iraq, U.S. President George W. Bush in October awarded Thailand non-NATO ally status, opening the door to priority military aid and the right to negotiate a free-trade agreement. A withdrawal of Thai troops from Iraq could upset Washington and jeopardize that deal.
Thailand's chief of military civilian affairs, Lt. Gen. Pisanu Urailert, said that the army was not discussing the possibility of withdrawing its troops and that Thai soldiers would "continue to carry out their humanitarian work ... as assigned by the government."
"At this moment we are talking about introducing more precautionary measures to prevent or deter such kinds of car bomb attacks. We have orders to erect more barriers on the road that leads to the camp," he said.
The car bombs were detonated by remote control, he said, without elaborating.
Thailand sent 422 soldiers to Iraq in September to provide medical services and to help rebuild roads, buildings and other infrastructure destroyed during the war. A similar number of soldiers are expected to deploy in March.
The Thai contingent, deployed near Karbala, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Baghdad, had previously suffered no fatalities. Five mortar shells landed inside the Thai camp in late November, but caused no damage.
The bodies of the two Thai soldiers are scheduled to arrive in Bangkok on Tuesday.
Copyright 2003 The
Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
