Maj-General Chai-charn Kittichan said he had warned Kobkul to travel less often, but she continued visiting constituents frequently even though she believed her life was in danger.

"I warned her that if she travelled a lot it would be hard to guard against attacks," Chaicharn said. At Kobkul's request he had assigned a police guard of one or two officers at a time to protect her.

Kobkul was killed in a hail of gunfire when her pick-up stopped at an intersection on Phetkasem Road in Tambon Chedihuk of Ratchaburi's Muang district at 8.30pm on Saturday.

She was returning from a wedding ceremony to her home in Muang district.

Lt-Colonel Somchai Thongsan-giam, an investigator at Muang Police Station, quoted a witness as saying that a pickup truck pulled up on the right side of Kobkul's vehicle and the sound of gunfire erupted before the truck sped away.

Investigators found 38 spent shells from M-16 rifles at the scene, Somchai said.

Kobkul had been sitting in the back seat. She was shot several times in the right side of her head and body. Her vehicle was riddled with bullets.

An officer assigned

to protect Kobkul was shot in his right arm. Sergeant Saichol Kaewthong, 35, was sitting beside the driver at the time of the incident. The driver, Chatree Suparanan, 52, was shot twice, in his right shoulder and torso.

Chaicharn said a witness who had been in a car behind Kobkul's vehicle had been placed in protective custody.

Chaicharn said ballistic tests showed two guns were used in the attack so at least three people were involved in the crime - a driver and two gunmen.

Lt-General Chalong Somjai, commissioner of Provincial Police Bureau 7 which includes Ratchaburi, said business conflicts might be the main motive behind Kobkul's killing although political conflicts had not been ruled out.

Chalong said Kobkul was building a new market, Muang Phet Market, which would compete with an existing one.

A source from the main investigating team said police were also looking into conflicts related to the construction business in Ratchaburi. Kobkul owned a construction firm that had won numerous projects in the province.

He said Kobkul had had conflicts with local politicians for a long time. The latest one involved her support for her brother's successful run for a Ratchaburi Senate seat.

Kobkul was born on October 13, 1959. She was a cousin of caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop.

She was elected as an MP for the first time in 2001 as a representative of the Chat Pattana Party. She won a House seat for the second time last year under the Thai Rak Thai banner. She was re-elected in the April 2 poll, which was subsequently nullified by the Constitution Court.

Suwat said caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had instructed Police Commissioner General Kowit Wattana to speed up the investigation into the murder. The national police chief has instructed the Central Investigation Bureau to send a team of investigators to help local police solve the crime, spokesman Lt-General Achirawit Suphanphesat said yesterday.

Thai Rak Thai deputy leader Sora-at Klinprathoom said he believed a conflict related to the Senate election led to the killing. Sora-at said Kobkul's brother, Kecha Saksomboon, won his seat at the cost of certain local politicians.

Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva called on the government to bring those behind the killing to justice as soon as possible.

Democrat spokesman Ong-arj Klampaibool said the party offered its condolences to Kobkul's family and called on the police to speed up the investigation.

Thai Rak Thai spokesman Sita Dhivari said the police should bring the culprits to justice as soon as possible as the murder had shocked the public.

Thaksin yesterday led a group of Thai Rak Thai members at the funeral ceremony at Kobkul's house in Ratchaburi's Muang district.

Accompanying Thaksin were Sora-at and caretaker Deputy Interior Minister Sermsak Pongpanit.

The praying ceremony will be held for seven days.