Thai military leader urges new elections

BANGKOK, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- Thailand's army commander says Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat should step down and new elections be called to defuse anti-government protests.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday after an emergency meeting with Thai business, military and academic leaders in Bangkok, Gen. Anupong Paochinda said the army wouldn't stage a coup but urged Wongsawat to dissolve the government call for new elections, The New York Times reported.

"The government should return power to the people," Anupong said after People's Alliance for Democracy protesters occupied Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport, seizing its control tower and forcing the cancellation of all flights in a bid to prevent Somchai from returning to Thailand from Peru.

A small explosion at the Suvarnabhumi Airport terminal earlier in the day injured three people while another explosion at the Don Muang Airport injured five people, officials said.

The PAD protesters want the government to resign, claiming it is a proxy for former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006.

Speaking from Peru, Somchai said he would not cave in to PAD pressure and that only the Thai people could dictate to him, the Bangkok Post reported.