Thailand's army chief has insisted that he will not launch a coup to resolve the country's political crisis.

At a press conference in Bangkok, Anupong Paochinda said: "If a coup could end all the troubles, I would do it. It is not going to resolve anything."

And Mr Anupong told Thailand's elected government to step down and called for a snap election in a bid to ease the six-month political crisis.

But Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat's spokesman Nattawut Saikuar said: "The prime minister has said many times that he will not quit or dissolve parliament because he has been democratically elected. That still stands."

Mr Anupong also told the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protest movement to withdraw from Bangkok's international airport and cease its anti-government campaign.

Earlier, PAD leader Sondhi Limthongul rejected a government offer of talks to end the airport blockade.

"You must quit first before we sit down and talk with you," he told cheering supporters at the airport, repeating the PAD's demand that Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat resign.

Hundreds of British tourists are caught up in the chaos at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok after it was stormed by thousands of anti-government protesters on Tuesday.

All flights have been cancelled and British holidaymakers are stranded in "no-man's land" after passing through immigration only to find they were unable to board their plane.

They are unable to travel back through the airport into Bangkok without a new visa allowing them to re-enter the country.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "Some people were stuck in the no-man's land between the immigration and the plane but they are being looked after by airport officials."

The number of Britons stuck at the airport is not known but the Foreign Office has been contacted on seven separate occasions by travellers stuck at the airport.

Incoming flights have been diverted to other sites in Thailand including Chiang Mai and Phuket.

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