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BANGKOK - TWO groups exchanged gunfire outside an anti-government protest camp in Bangkok's historic district on Thursday, police and emergency services said, but no one was hurt.
A Bangkok Metropolitan Police official said the shots were heard at about 2.40am (3.40am, Singapore time) outside Government House, the prime minister's Bangkok offices that protesters have occupied since late August.
The official said volunteer guards for the so-called People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) refused police entry to their fortified protest compound to investigate the incident.
Bangkok's emergency services reporting bureau confirmed the clash, but said no one had been injured in the exchange of fire.
'There is a report that several gunshots have been fired around Government House from an unknown group. PAD guards returned with gunshots. No injuries were reported,' an emergency services official said.
One man was killed on Wednesday in the northern city of Chiang Mai in a clash between pro- and anti-government supporters, as tensions in the kingdom rocketed after protesters seized Bangkok's main international airport.
The protesters are pushing for the resignation of Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat's government, which they accuse of being a corrupt proxy for former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006.
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