BANGKOK, Thailand — Thai commandos who stormed a hospital in a hostage rescue mission killed some of the 10 captors after they surrendered, Thai media said Wednesday, citing hostages.
Thai leaders and the public, however, have supported police and soldiers who stormed the hospital Tuesday, killing all the insurgents holding hundreds of patients and staff hostage in Ratchaburi, 60 miles west of Bangkok.
Police have said all of the captors were killed during the assault. They were identified as members of God's Army and the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors, fringe rebel bands fighting the military regime in neighboring Myanmar.
The Bangkok Post cited hostages who said some of their captors were shot after surrendering. One hostage, identified as a senior hospital official, said she saw police hold the rebels at gunpoint.
"They were shot in the head after they had been told to undress and kneel down," the official was quoted as saying. Other newspapers had similar reports.
Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai would not comment directly on the paper's report but said the controversy was a sign of success.
"If some Thai officials had died in this operation, the questions would change to, 'Why did we send our officials to die?' " Chuan said after a security meeting to review the crisis.
The reason why no rebel survived is clear, Chuan said. "We shot faster than they did," he said. "On the contrary, if they shot faster than us, our officials might have been killed instead."
Thai police stepped up security Wednesday at Myanmar's embassy in Bangkok and along the border to prevent revenge attacks.
The Nation newspaper cited hospital officials and relatives as saying that four patients, one 78 years old, had died from natural causes during the 22-hour siege. The rest of the hostages were freed unharmed. Five police officers were wounded in the raid.
The hospital was open Wednesday, but bomb crews searched for explosives in the outpatient department — where most of the hostages were held. Outpatient services were moved to another building. Workers were still cleaning up blood and broken glass.
Authorities displayed the bodies of the captors, wrapped in white sheets, for reporters on Tuesday. A Christian funeral rite was held today.
Top police officials, asked Tuesday whether the rebels had been summarily executed, said they had died fighting. There was no immediate reaction to today's report of witnesses saying otherwise.
Plainclothes police began infiltrating the hospital — a sprawling, 6-acre compound of 10 buildings that the insurgents could not fully control — dressed as patients and medical staff hours after the siege began. They identified the number and locations of the captors and helped sneak what patients they could to safety.
The insurgents, who entered from Myanmar, seized the hospital Monday to force Thailand to aid their beleaguered movement. Their camp was under attack by Myanmar government forces, and Thai troops had shelled them to stop them from seeking refuge in Thailand.
They demanded Thailand cease the shelling and grant refuge to civilians and combatants. Talks were held into the early hours of Tuesday, when the assault began.
The Post reported that three captors took part in the seizure in October of Myanmar's embassy in Bangkok by the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors.
They held 40 people hostage for 26 hours but freed them unharmed in exchange for a helicopter to take them to the border, where they took refuge with God's Army, a fundamentalist Christian group of ethnic Karens led by twin 12-year-old boys believed to have mystical powers.
The embassy siege angered Myanmar's government, which closed the border for two months and accused Thailand of coddling terrorists. Ties have improved since, and the military regime praised Thailand for taking strong action this time.