Police told to curb poll violence

Police told to curb poll violence

BANGKOK (Reuter): Thailand's caretaker prime minister, Banharn
Silpa-archa, has ordered police to step up efforts to halt poll
violence after a spate of shootings ahead of the Nov. 17
election, police said yesterday.

A political activist for the Democrat party was shot dead in
Phichit province north of Bangkok on Saturday, while another
party worker was injured in an attack in Samut Sakorn province.

Unidentified gunmen also fired on the house of the campaign
manager for the Solidarity Party in Nakhon Phathom province on
Saturday night, police said. No one was injured in the attack.

A total of six political workers, mostly from the opposition
parties, have been shot dead since Wednesday, police said.
Seventeen people have been attacked by unidentified gunmen, seven
of them killed, since campaigning began on Sept. 27.

Campaigner workers are usually the prime targets for gunmen
rather than candidates, police said. The workers are usually
better known and more influential locally than the politicians.