Bangkok, Sep 20 (DPA) International and Thailand-based human rights groups Wednesday condemned a military-led coup that has overthrown caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

However, the former premier's human rights record has earned similar condemnations from the same groups in the past.

"Thaksin's rule had seriously eroded respect for human rights in Thailand, but suspending basic rights under the constitution is not the answer," said Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch.

"Thailand needs to solve its problems through the rule of law and the people exercising their right to choose their own leaders," said Adams in a statement received in Thailand.

The Bangkok-based Asian Human Rights Commission was equally critical of the Tuesday night bloodless coup that was led by Thai Army Commander-in-Chief General Sonthi Boonyaratklin.

"The Asian Human Rights Commission is gravely disturbed by this takeover of power," said the commission. "It has no place in Thailand at a time that parliamentary democracy, despite difficulties, was maturing and taking root."

The commission called upon the military to appoint a caretaker civilian government swiftly and the UN General Assembly to condemn the coup.

The coup occurred when Thaksin was in New York attending the UN General Assembly.

The military-led Administrative Reform Council said Wednesday that it had been forced to seize power to combat rising corruption, disunity and Thaksin's undermining of independent agencies and the monarchy.

The coup-makers have pledged to return power to the people as soon as possible, although their decision to abolish the 1997 constitution suggests it will take months, if not a year, before a new one can be drafted.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch has been highly critical of Thaksin during his five years in power, especially of his so-called "war on drugs" in 2003 during which an estimated 2,000 suspected drug traffickers were killed, many of them in extra-judicial executions.

The human rights group has also condemned Thaksin's policies in the south, where a separatist struggle raged since January 2004, leaving 1,700 dead and many "disappearances" of suspects under emergency decree rule.