No foreign combatant found in Thai territory

No foreign combat squad was found to have infiltrated into Thai territory and been allegedly involved in recent violence in the Thai capital Bangkok where anti- government protesters have been rallying for the past three months, said a military officer on Thursday. Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) spokesman Col Banpod Pulpian denied that unidentified foreign combat forces had slipped across the Thai eastern border, and carried out clandestine missions to trigger street unrest in Bangkok. The ISOC spokesman made his comments in response to rumors that a Cambodian combat squad had penetrated into Thailand and lived in hideouts in Minburi, Nongjok and Rangsit areas on the capital's eastern and northern outskirts. They had allegedly been hired by an unknown third party to do hit-and-run missions against the protesters, who have pressed caretaker premire Yingluck Shinawatra to step down and planned to disrupt an imminent election slated for Feb. 2. A few protesters were killed and a dozen of others injured by unknown assailants, who had hurled grenades and fired gunshots at the crowds gathering on the streets. "The Suranari and Burapa task forces had launched search and probe missions in the wake of such allegations and found no foreign combat forces anywhere as yet," he said, referring to the Thai army's major barracks based in the northeastern and eastern regions respectively.