Bangkok - Thailand's corruption watchdog said Thursday it suspected Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat was guilty of turning a blind eye to corruption when he was a civil servant.

The National Counter Corruption Commission will ask the civil service committee of the Justice Ministry, where Somchai used to work as permanent secretary, to consider retroactively firing him for dereliction of duty.

The case started in 2000 when a senior judge, Chamnan Rawiwanpong, complained about corruption involving the sale of court-owned land in a province near Bangkok and state fees not paid during the purchase. Somchai counter-attacked by demanding Chamnan's dismissal for disciplinary offences.

Bangkok - Thailand's Supreme Court said Thursday it would consider a request to seize 76 billion baht (2.1 billion dollars) in assets belonging to controversial former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The measure is potentially the most financially wounding of the many legal actions aimed against Thaksin since his ouster in a September 2006 coup.

Bangkok - The Thai government Thursday rebuffed a Cambodian claim that it was an unreliable and biased chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as the two sides are locked in a bitter border dispute.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said other members of the 10-country body would understand Thailand's restraint and probity on the issue.

Two Cambodian soldiers were reportedly killed in an exchange of gunfire and 10 Thai soldiers allegedly captured Wednesday afternoon after the two countries accused each other of stepping over previously agreed lines around a 900-year-old Hindu temple, ownership of which has been disputed for decades.

New York - UN Sec

Bangkok  - Thai shares fell 3.85 per cent Wednesday on worries about a global economic slowdown and fighting on the Thai-Cambodian border.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand index closed at 481.5, down 19.27 points.

"Investors were concerned that the US bail-out measures will result in a global economic slowdown," said Mongkol Phuangphatha, an analyst at Adkinson Securities.

"Then there was news of fighting on the Thai-Cambodian border, which didn't help any," he added.

Thai and Cambodian troops briefly exchanged rifle fire Wednesday afternoon, resulting in at least one minor casualty on the Thai side.

Bangkok - Cambodian soldiers fired on Thai soldiers, wounding two, Wednesday afternoon along the disputed border, according to Thai TV reports from the area.

The Cambodian side opened fire at 2:25 pm and allegedly injured two Thai soldiers, according to the reports, which have not been confirmed by the Thai Foreign Ministry or the army.

The incident reportedly occurred 3 kilometres away from Phreah Vihear, an 11th century Hindu temple that has been the cause of many border disputes between the two neighbouring countries for almost five decades.