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Washington troubled by Thai unrest

WASHINGTON, May 20 (UPI) -- Washington "deeply deplores" the loss of life from the violence in Bangkok and calls for a political solution, U.S. State Department officials said.

Bangkok was quiet Thursday after a military assault on Red Shirt protesters. An overnight curfew was extended to Saturday after rioters burned key buildings following a Red Shirt decision to surrender Wednesday.

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Except for a few clashes in some sections, the military remained in control of the capital after Wednesday's deadly assault to reclaim the main business district from where the protesters had conducted their campaign since March.

More than 40 people have died since last week in clashes with security forces. One of those who died in Wednesday's operation was an Italian photo journalist.

Gordon Duguid, deputy spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said Washington was frustrated with the Thai violence.

"I would like to say that the United States deeply deplores the violence and loss of life that has resulted from clashes between security forces and protests from the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (Red Shirts)," he said. "We call on both sides to show restraint and to work to resolve differences through Thailand's democratic institutions."

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Duguid said he was "encouraged" by the surrender of Red Shirt leaders but was troubled by the level of arson and the targeting of foreign journalists during this week's unrest.

"We remain very concerned about the situation in Thailand and we will continue to monitor those events closely," he said.

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