Australian tourists shot dead, injured in Chiang Mai
BANGKOK (AFP): An Australian man was shot dead and his companion injured when ambushed by a gang of thieves in northern Thailand, police and embassy officials said today. The 24-year-old man died instantly when four armed men pounced on the couple in the mountain-top Aung Kha National Park in Chiang Mai province, 700 kilometers (450 miles) north of Bangkok, late yesterday. The woman, 26, suffered multiple cuts on her neck, head and face when gang members tried to rape her. She escaped and ran to a park office for help, police said. She is currently in hospital. Embassy officials declined to name the couple until next of kin had been informed. “The police have initially established the motive for the attack as robbery,” a tourist police spokesman in Chiang Mai said. The tourists had been camping on the peak for two nights during a bird-watching expedition, police said. The home towns of the victims were not immediately available.
