THAILAND TO INVESTIGATE DRUG-WAR KILLINGS

BANGKOK, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Thailand has set up a team to investigate
the deaths of about 2,500 people killed during Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra's war on drugs, after the king urged the government to
verify the deaths, police said on Friday.

A police team would take a week to investigate the deaths, national
police bureau spokesman Ponsapat Pongcharoen told reporters.

"The team will take a week to study our database and come up with
categorised figures of how many people were killed in intra-gang wars
and how many were killed by the police," he said.

Thai and foreign rights groups have accused police of killing
suspected drug dealers during the 10-month campaign, a charge the
government denies. It says most of the deaths resulted from dealers
fighting each other.

Speaking on the eve of his 76th birthday, King Bhumibol Adulyadej said
on Thursday Thaksin and his government had faced unfair criticism over
the deaths.

The king rejected criticism of the role of the security forces during
the campaign and urged the authorities to verify the death figures.

"Most of the dead were people who had killed one another, people who
did the trafficking, the production," the king said.

King Bhumibol had voiced concern over the growing drug problem last
year in his annual birthday speech. Thaksin, a former police colonel,
later promised a drug-free Thailand in time for his birthday this year.