AP News, December 14th, 2006
Two Laotian-American men were shot to death Wednesday at a bus station in northeastern Thailand after returning from a trip to Laos, and Thai police suspect a political connection to the killings, a Thai television station reported.
According to iTV, police suspected the men were killed because of possible links to a group opposed to the government of Laos, a single-party communist state.
The two men from Oregon, who claimed to be related to one of the now-defunct Lao royal families, used the names Thao Somvang and Thao Soukanh, the iTV television network said. It cited Karuna Chokpreecha, Thao Somvang's wife, who witnessed the killings in Ubon Rachathani, 300 miles northeast of Bangkok.
"Thao" is a Laotian honorific roughly equivalent to "prince."
The pair were shot by a man wearing a black hat as they waited to pick up their luggage after arriving by bus with four companions from the southern Lao province of Champassak, iTV reported. The men had arrived in Thailand on Oct. 17 and were scheduled to catch a flight back to the United States on Thursday.
The TV station showed a picture of an Oregon driver's license belonging to one of the victims, identifying him as Soukanh Visathep of Johnson City, born in 1942. The second dead man was not clearly identified in the report.
Police with knowledge of the case could not be reached late Wednesday by The Associated Press.
The case appeared similar to one in January in which a Laotian-American couple were shot dead in Nong Khai, another northeastern Thai town near the border with Laos.
Anouwong and Oulayvanh Sethathirath also had claimed to be descendants of a Laotian royal family, and apparently had contacts with some Laotian anti-government groups. They were known in their hometown of Fairview, N.C., as Phillip and Ashley McRowan.
In May, Thai police arrested Athit Klinchana, a suspected Thai hit man, who told them he was hired by the Laotian government to assassinate its opponents, including the McRowans. He allegedly said he was paid $2,600 for each assassination.
During interrogation, police said they found he was linked to at least seven other killings.
The Laotian government denied involvement.
