Independent investigations into the deaths of nearly 200 Thai Muslims in unrest last year accused security forces of excessive force and negligence, in findings published for the first time yesterday.
Rights groups had condemned Prime Minister Thaksin's Shinawatra's government for withholding the complete findings of the two probes conducted by independent panels last year into two controversial clashes between security forces and Muslim militants and protesters.
The newly-appointed National Reconciliation Commission, which began its work earlier this month, had vowed to release the reports as part of its efforts to build peace and end the insurgency that has claimed more than 650 lives since January last year.
"The commission realizes that disclosure of both reports will be just the beginning of the process to unveil truth in our society," commission chairman Anand Panyarachun, a respected former prime minister, told Thai media.
The commission edited the reports to remove the names of witnesses and to black out details that could harm the reconciliation process, he said.
Peace efforts by Thailand's government have so far failed to curb the violence. Two border patrol officers died early on Sunday when a bomb went off at a river checkpoint on the Malaysian border.
Two more bombs exploded yesterday near government offices in Narathiwat Province, but no one was hurt.
The two reports were released late on Sunday after the commission's three-day meeting in the town of Pattani.
Thai newspapers yesterday reprinted lengthy excerpts of the investigations into the massacre at the southern Krue Se mosque, which was stormed by authorities on April 28 last year and the deaths of Muslim demonstrators in Tak Bai district on Oct. 25.
The probe into the Krue Se killings found that while officials needed to use weapons to protect themselves and innocent residents, security forces did not give negotiations a chance to work.
"The probe found that officials had no experience or training to face this kind of crisis situation and end it in a peaceful way. Government should address this issue to prevent similar incidents in the future," it said, according to Thai papers.
Thirty-two armed insurgents were killed as they hid inside the mosque that was stormed by security forces during a day of attacks that left a total of 108 militants and five police and soldiers dead.
The investigation identified 11 senior officials who were involved in the siege, including former deputy prime minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, former fourth army commander Lieutenant General Pisarn Wattanawongkiri and General Phanlob Pinmanee, the deputy director for Internal Security Operation Command.
The investigation into the Tak Bai protest -- when 87 Muslim protesters died, mainly of suffocation when they were detained, bound and then piled onto military trucks -- also found that security forces were poorly trained to deal with protesters.
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