BANGKOK (AFP) - Myanmar's Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt -- among the most reformist of the military regime's leaders -- has been sacked and placed under house arrest for alleged corruption, a Thai government spokesman said.
"The Thai government has learned through diplomatic channels from the Thai ambassador in Yangon that the Myanmar prime minister Khin Nyunt was dismissed and detained under house arrest on corruption allegations," spokesman Jakrapob Penkair told reporters.
The premier, number three in the Myanmar leadership, was arrested in a shock move on Monday night after he returned to the capital from a visit to the central town of Mandalay, according to sources.
Khin Nyunt, 65, was the face of the hardline regime overseas and supported dialogue with the detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
But he appeared increasingly marginalised with the rise of hardliners within the leadership, according to analysts.
Senior General Than Shwe, head of the junta known as the State Peace and Development Council, strongly opposes allowing Aung San Suu Kyi any role in the political process.
Analysts saw the move as a consolidation of his power and said it was likely to signal a continued hard line against supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi, who has now been detained for 16 months during her third period of house arrest.
The sacking was also the culmination of growing tensions between rival factions within the leadership, sources in Myanmar said.
An analyst in Yangon said the sacking was likely to have major repercussions and followed feuding between military intelligence, headed by Khin Nyunt for 20 years, and the main body of the military leadership.
"He (Khin Nyunt) was recognised as having some kind of international experience," the analyst said.
"They must have reached an impasse to come to such a situation that is putting in danger the unity of the army. This is a first."
The isolated regime closed its border checkpoints as the drama played out and telephone communication with Yangon became difficult amid swirling rumours of high-level changes.
Thai security sources said Lieutenant General San Pwint, who has been involved in a drugs crackdown and negotiations with opposition ethnic groups, would replace Khin Nyunt. He is not seen as a strong ally of either faction.
"I don't think there wil be any unrest or bloodshed in Myanmar concerning this change as Myanmar is known for its decisive action," Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, Thai deputy prime minister, told reporters amid reports of trucks of troops driving around Yangon.
Khin Nyunt was appointed as premier in August 2003, soon after Myanmar was condemned internationally for the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi following a violent clash between her supporters and a pro-junta mob.
The premier announced a seven-point "road map to democracy" but the programme has stalled amid international complaints that it is a sham while Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest.
Her party, the National League for Democracy, won national elections in 1990 but was not allowed to rule by the military.
"This is the hardliners consolidating power and we are concerned it means the country is going back to isolation and away from the democracy road map," said Sunai Phasuk, an advisor to the Thai Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs.
"If Than Shwe remains Than Shwe, a man who puts military ahead of political negotiations, then the road ahead is very serious," he said.
Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962 and has faced mounting international sanctions from the EU and United States because of the lack of movement in democratic reforms.
The United States on Monday called on the European Union and other democracies to consider imposing a full import ban on Myanmar to pressure the junta to release Aung San Suu Kyi.