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Thaksin warns foreigners not to criticize crackdown

Thai Muslim people ride a motorcycle as Thai policemen sit on a truck patrolling Pattani Province, south of Bangkok, yesterday. PHOTO: EPA

In a combative speech to the nation, Thailand's leader yesterday warned foreigners not to criticize his government's crackdown on suspected Islamic militants this week that left more than 100 people dead after what many say was the use of excessive force.

"Please don't intervene. Please leave us alone," Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said in a radio speech.

"It is my job and we can cope with this matter. We are trying to explain this to foreigners. But if they do not understand or ignore our explanation, I don't care because we are not begging them for food," Thaksin said.

Thaksin's defiant words came as pressure mounted on his government to investigate the kingdom's worst carnage in recent times when security forces on Wednesday indiscriminately shot at waves of attackers in the Muslim dominated south of this predominantly Buddhist kingdom.

Police had earlier said 108 militants were killed, but Thaksin revised the figure to 107 yesterday. Five security forces were also killed.

The Bangkok Post newspaper, quoting an unidentified source, reported yesterday that some of the militants were members of the al-Qaeda linked Jemaah Islamiyah regional terror group. It did not give any more details and the report could not be independently verified.

In Geneva, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights demanded Friday that Thailand investigate the killings, citing treaties that require security forces "to refrain from using force exceeding that strictly required by the exigencies of the situation."

International and local human rights groups have also called for investigations while Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand have warned their citizens not to travel to southern Thailand. Malaysia has said it will receive Thai Muslim refugees fleeing the violence.

Wednesday's attacks pointed to a growing Islamic separatist movement that has been dormant for years until it became evident earlier this year with the torching of several schools and a raid on an army arsenal in which four soldiers were killed.

Since then, almost daily attacks by armed men on motorcycles had left 97 policemen, Buddhist civilians and other government officials dead in almost daily attacks until Wednesday, Thaksin said.

"We could not tolerate that any longer," he said.

Police said Friday they found Arabic language pamphlets calling for the creation of a Muslim homeland on some of the bodies of the dead militants.

"The incident has shown that the militants had clear intention to stock up fire arms for their separatist operations," national police chief General Sunthorn Kraikwan said.

"This is a serious matter. It's a threat to national security," he said.

Details about those driving the insurgency were unclear. But the government continued to play down the problem, calling foreign diplomats to a briefing to assure them about security in this Southeast Asian country that trades heavily on a reputation for peace and harmony to attract more than 10 million tourists a year.

Thaksin defended his security forces, saying they had no choice but to used the massive force to kill the militiamen.

"They stormed security outposts with firearms, bombs and knives and machetes. They meant to rob guns and weapons," Thaksin said.

"The security forces could not sit idle and wait for the attackers to kill them," he said.

He acknowledged that the violence was the work of separatists, but said the militiamen themselves were unemployed and uneducated youth in the region, brainwashed by the masterminds.

Most of Thailand's 63 million people are Buddhists, but Muslims form the majority in several impoverished southern provinces near the border with mainly Muslim Malaysia and blame the central government for years of neglect.
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