2 Laotian-Americans killed in Thailand

BANGKOK, Thailand --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 said they suspect a political connection to the killings.

Initial investigations showed the killings were "related to the conflict in Laos," said police Lt. Col. Saran Nilawan, who is heading the probe into the murders.

According to Thai television station 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 Portland, Ore., were identified as Somvangh Keomanyvong and Soukanh Visathep, Saran said. The wives of both men were with them when they were attacked in Ubon Rachathani, 300 miles northeast of Bangkok, but both women were unharmed.

The pair were shot by a man wearing a black hat as they waited to pick up their luggage after arriving by bus with their wives three other travel companions from the southern Lao province of Champassak, Saran said. The men had arrived in Thailand on Nov. 17 and Somvangh was scheduled to fly back to the U.S. on Thursday.

Both men moved to the U.S. about 30 years ago, Saran said. While still in Laos, Soukanh worked as a policeman and Somvangh served as a soldier. Relatives were arranging to have their bodies returned to the U.S.

The iTV report said that the two men claimed to be related to one of the now defunct Lao royal families. It was not immediately possible to confirm any link to royalty.

The case came almost a year after the January murder of a Laotian-American couple shot dead in Nong Khai, another northeastern Thai town near the border with Laos.

Anouwong and Oulayvanh Sethathirath 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 in the May murders.