Thai coup leaders to address nation at 0730 IST

BANGKOK, Sep 20 (Reuters) Thailand's coup leaders are due to make a televised address to the nation at 9 am (0730 IST) today, and have told civil servants to tune in to hear their new policies, a senior colonel told reporters.

Leaders of yesterday's bloodless military putsch against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra would brief Bangkok-based diplomats at 1 pm, Colonel Samerpak Sawangmuang told reporters.

''The leaders of the Political Reform Council will tell the ambassadors and other diplomats what has happened and their policies,'' Samerpak, a coup spokesman, said.

With Thaksin at the United Nations in New York, the armed forces seized power in Bangkok, revoking the constitution and promising a swift return to democracy after political reforms.

REUTERS DKS BST0708