The Thai government says the operation to deport thousands of Hmong refugees to Communist Laos has been completed.

A Thai military spokesperson says all the Hmong in a refugee camp in northern Thailand were transported by lorry over the border. The deportations have been sharply condemned by the international community. Many fear that the Hmong will be persecuted in Laos for fighting alongside US forces during the Vietnam War.

Bangkok claims the Hmong are illegal, economic migrants. Among the approximately 4000 deportees are 158 people, including 90 children, who have been officially recognized as refugees by United Nations Refugee Agency.
 

A number of countries had offered to grant the group asylum but Thailand and did not respond to the offer. Bangkok says the Laotian government has guaranteed that the Hmong will not be persecuted.