- BANGKOK (Reuters) -- Thailand
will withdraw its 451 medical and engineering troops from Iraq if they
are attacked, the Thai prime minister said on Tuesday after a wave of kidnappings
and attacks on U.S. allies in Iraq.
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- Thaksin Shinawatra's government is facing growing calls
to withdraw the troops, who were sent last year to do humanitarian work
in the southern city of Kerbala, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad.
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- "If we get hurt or killed, I will not keep them
there," Thaksin told reporters a day after Honduras followed Spain
in announcing they would pull their troops out of Iraq.
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- His comments come after Thailand's embassy in Sweden
received a letter earlier this month threatening the Southeast Asian country
with attacks similar to the train bombings in the Spanish capital Madrid
in retaliation for sending troops to Iraq.
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- The Thai Senate debated a resolution on Tuesday calling
for the troops to come home.
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- "We have simply sent our troops to jail, waiting
to be killed. Isn't it better just to pull back now before an incident
takes place?" Senator Karun Saingam, who sponsored the resolution,
asked the assembly.
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- The resolution later failed to win a majority of votes
in the 200-seat Senate after a heated five-hour debate.
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- Thai soldiers have been confined to their Kerbala camp
since a wave of violence erupted across Iraq a few weeks ago.
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- "We do not go there to fight. If we get killed why
should we stay?" Thaksin said.
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- Two Thai soldiers were killed in a truck bomb attack
in Kerbala last December.
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- The deaths shocked many Thais and sparked criticism that
the government had failed to explain to the public the risks of deploying
troops to Iraq, even on a humanitarian mission.
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- Spain said on Monday it had begun withdrawing its 1,400-strong
contingent from Iraq.
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- Security ministers told the senators the government had
to bear in mind the country's honour and international commitments in deciding
the future of its Iraqi mission.
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- "I can tell you all that if we can't stay there,
we will certainly rush out. But whatever we do, we must do it discreetly,
not to lose friends and dignity," said Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit
Yongchaiyudh, the government's chief security minister.
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