Thai Army Leaders Depose Prime Minister

Opponents of the prime minister cheered the coup; some of them turned out in the early Tuesday morning to greet soldiers sitting atop tanks parked on Bangkok streets. Thaksin is widely popular in rural Thailand, where most of the population lives, and there was little immediate response from those communities.

Sonthi and other coup leaders are close to Thailand's deeply revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Some of the coup soldiers sported cloths of yellow, the royal color, as armbands and on their gun barrels in an attempt to signal they were acting in support of the king.

Reports said coup leaders had met with the king in his palace. In past political crises, a few words from the king, the world's longest-reigning monarch, have dramatically turned the course of events. But Sonthi said at the news conference that the monarchy played no role in the seizure of power.

"I am the one who decided to stage the coup. No one supported me," Sonthi said.

Panitan Wattanayagorn, a political scientist, said he had been fearful in the initial hours that troops loyal to Thaksin might fight back. No such opposition appeared.

Army TV gave the first sign that something was afoot when it began broadcasting patriotic songs and images of the king.

The army spokesman, Col. Akarat Chitroj, told the Associated Press that Sonthi would serve as prime minister. But a government spokesman denied that Thaksin was no longer head of the government. "At this moment, he is still the prime minister. I just talked to a senior party member and everyone confirms that Thaksin is still prime minister," Susasanee Nakpong told the AP.

In New York, deputy prime minister Surakiart condemned the coup. Thaksin "is constitutionally and legally elected prime minister," he told CNN. "And this is an elected government. . . . If there's going to be any change, it has to be through the democratic means, and we have upcoming elections anyway in November, so we should listen to the voice of the people."

The coup is the 18th successful or attempted military takeover in Thailand since the country became a constitutional monarchy in 1932. But in the 1990s, the military stepped back from this role as democratic institutions began to take root.

As recently as this weekend, Thaksin denied that a coup was in the making. "As far as I know, there's no such movement for the time being," he said, according to the Nation newspaper.

Thaksin and his Thais Love Thais party won a resounding victory in 2005 elections, securing 374 of 500 seats in the House of Representatives. But he soon found himself in a political crisis.

Street protests that had begun with a murmur late last year found voice in January after Thaksin's family sold its shares in Shin Corp., a telecommunications and satellite company, to Singapore's Temasak Holdings for $1.9 billion, tax-free.

Thaksin sought to counter demands for his resignation by calling early elections in April, only to see them boycotted by the opposition parties. King Bhumibol called on the courts to "clear up the mess," and the judges nullified the vote.

Sen. Kraisak Choonhavan, whose late father, Gen. Chatichai Choonhavan, was ousted as prime minister in the last successful coup in 1991, said the new takeover was "unfortunate . . . but it seems as if it was inevitable. And I think the key to understand in this event is probably Mr. Thaksin wants to take out the existing military hierarchy altogether and put his men in and have total control of Thailand."

Thaksin had been hoping that a recent military reshuffle and series of promotions would strengthen his hand, analysts said.

Staff writer Glenn Kessler in Washington, Peter Goodman in Beijing and Colum Lynch at the United Nations contributed to this report.