More than 100 protestors from the Thai Inter-Religious Groups for Peace waved banners and shouted protests outside the embassy gates, following a ceremony inside the mission.

Representatives of the group said that while they "sympathised" over the loss of life last September 11, they were protesting the continued presence of US military forces in Afghanistan.

Earlier, ambassador Darryl Johnson had presided over a brief ceremony which included a moment of silence to honour victims of the worst terrorist attacks in US history.

The envoy praised Thailand's commitment to the US-led war on terror, which has turned its focus in large measure to Southeast Asia as security experts see the region as a potential hive of al-Qaeda activity.

"In both word and deed, Thailand has stood by the United States," Johnson told some 250 embassy staff, US nationals and Thai government officials.

He then helped US military staff lay a wreath of roses and lillies as an officer played the bugle call "Taps".

The embassy -- the largest in Asia -- remained open under heightened security despite what US officials in the region described as "credible" threats which led to the closure of US missions in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Later Wednesday the ambassador was due to appear on a live television broadcast in which he would answer questions from Thai students about the war on terrorism.

There are more than 16,000 Americans currently living in Thailand, the embassy said.

Despite a worldwide caution issued by Washington, Thailand is deemed relatively safe for Americans by US officials here.

"There is heightened security in place" for the US mission, an embassy spokesman told Nampa-AFP after the ceremony, but "we definitely are not subject to any credible and specific threats."

Nampa-AFP

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