Ever since the Iraq crisis began, Thailand's position has been to support the implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions concerning the disarming of Iraq's mass destruction weapons, said a formal statement issued by the Foreign Ministry.

"Thailand holds out the hope that the current military operations will be brought to a swift end so as to minimize the damages and losses inflicted upon the Iraqi civilians and the general population," said the statement.

The statement confirmed the existing cooperation between Thailand and the United States in the field of security and in fighting the threat of terrorism, but underlined "this does not include participation in military actions."

The Thai government also expressed its wish to provide humanity assistance to Iraqi people and help reconstruct Iraq, said the statement.

Thai Foreign Minister Surakiat Sathirathai denied any relations between the Iraq war and the Thai government's move of sending back three Iraqi diplomats.

The actions had been taken out of security consideration, Surakiat said at a press conference held on Thursday afternoon.

Neither did he confirmed whether there was one favorite of Iraqi president Sadam Hussein among those expellees.

Thailand has expelled three low-rank Iraqi diplomats and eight civilians in last two days.

(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2003)