Thailand's 'red shirts' to call off protest

Protest leaders in Thailand said they will surrender today after troops stormed into their Bangkok encampment.

Soldiers backed by armoured vehicles moved into a fortified encampment occupied by Red Shirt protesters, breaking through bamboo-and-tyre barricades in a major offensive in the heart of the capital.

At least two protesters were killed as well as an Italian photographer, who died of a gunshot wound to the chest suffered during the military operation.

Another 17 other people were injured, including a Dutch journalist who was shot in the shoulder and a 53-year-old American documentary film-maker who was treated for a bullet wound in the leg.

Surreal scenes of warfare erupted soon after dawn in one of the ritziest parts of the capital, a metropolis of 10 million people, as troops armed with M-16s converged on the central business district.