980 SHOT DEAD IN THAILAND'S DRUGS CRACKDOWN

Nearly 1,000 people have now been killed in Thailand's war on drugs, the
country's Interior Ministry said yesterday, prompting a United Nations
official to express "deep concern".

Several children, a pregnant woman and a grandmother aged 75 were among the
victims of drug-related shootings, and human rights groups have accused
police of following a "shoot to kill" policy.

The Interior Ministry said 993 people were shot dead in the first 24 days
of the campaign against drugs traffickers and producers.

The ministry claimed that drug gang members killed 977 of the victims for
fear of being informed on. Police have separately admitted to killing 22
suspected dealers, saying they were acting in self-defence.

The prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, continued to shrug off criticism
and blamed the deaths on shoot-outs between "tough guys". Public opinion
has been overwhelmingly behind Mr Thaksin, a telecommunications
billionaire, but may be starting to change after damaging disclosures of
children and women apparently killed by police.

Three officers were charged with murder after a nine-year-old boy was shot
dead in a car as his mother, a suspected small-time dealer, tried to escape
a drugs sting. A police spokesman, Maj Gen Pongsaphat Pongcharoen, said the
killings "happen almost hourly".

He said police had arrested 8,745 suspected drug traffickers and a further
36,227 suspects had reported to authorities as part of a nationwide appeal.

Asma Jahangir, a UN special rapporteur on human rights, urged Thai
officials to ensure that "the strict limits on the use of lethal force are
followed rigorously and without exception" and to launch transparent and
independent investigations into the deaths.

The Thai Health Ministry has estimated that three million people, or five
per cent of the population, regularly abuse methamphetamine, a highly
addictive drug made by rebel ethnic armies across the border in Burma. The
figure makes Thailand the world's largest consumer of the drug.