DHAKA: Supporters of Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra promised on Sunday to get tough with anti-government protesters paralysing parts of Bangkok, raising tension in a protracted crisis hours after a deadly attack on a protest rally.

Leaders of the pro-government United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) vowed to ‘deal with’ anti-government leader Suthep Thaugsuban, setting the scene for a possible confrontation between pro- and anti-government groups.

‘This fight will be harder than any other ... You must think how we can deal with Suthep and those supporting him,’ Jatuporn Prompan, a UDD leader and senior member of the ruling Puea Thai Party, told thousands of cheering supporters in Nakhon Ratchasima, northeast of the capital, reports The Straits Times.

It was unclear whether Jatuporn was calling for an armed struggle, but he was speaking just hours after gunmen shot at an anti-government protest stage and threw explosive devices in the Khao Saming district of the eastern province of Trat, killing at least two people and wounding 41.

BDST: 1532 HRS, FEB 23, 2014