Bangkok  - Thailand has assigned 18,298 security personnel to keep the peace at this month's summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), news reports said Saturday.

The decision to deploy the army and police personnel was made Friday at a meeting of the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC), chaired by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, the state-run Thai News Agency said.

Thailand is to host the 15th ASEAN summit October 23-25 in Prachuab Khiri Khan province, 130 kilometres south-west of Bangkok.

Much of the province, including its two main beach resorts of Hua Hin and Cha-am, is to be placed under the Internal Security Act October 12-27, which allows authorities to crack down on any protests or any signs of violent intent with impunity.

The tight security measures follow an embarassing incident on April 11-12 when anti-government protestors stormed the venue of a summit ASEAN planned to hold with China, Japan and South Korea in Pattaya, 100 kilometres south-east of Bangkok, forcing Abhisit to cancel the event.

"The prime minister reiterated that the upcoming summit would prove to other nations that the situation in Thailand has returned to normal," government spokesman Panitan Watanayagorn told the agency. (dpa)