Police in Thailand have charged an eighteen-year-old youth in connection with a fatal attack on a young Australian couple who were camping in a remote mountainous area.

Police said the youth confessed to the attack, in which the man died and his girlfriend was badly injured.

It took place on Thursday in the Doi Ang Khan national park.

A police spokesman said the incident had damaged Thailand's good image.

Correspondents say there's concern in the tourism industry about bad publicity, particularly as it's only two months since an Australian woman backpacker was murdered in southern Thailand.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service