Thailand puts top tourist spots on full security alert

The prime minister said he put Thailand's major tourist spots on full alert yesterday, hinting of links between Muslim militants in the south of the kingdom and the terrorists who staged the latest Bali bombings.

"We have something [information] that causes us to be very cautious and call a full alert," Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said in response to a question about how Thailand was reacting to suicide bombs on Bali that killed 26 people on Saturday.

Except to say that plainclothes officials would be dispatched into the tourist areas, Thaksin did not provide details of the alert or the information which prompted it.

Key tourist spots include the island of Phuket, the seaside resort of Pattaya and several sites in the capital.

Thailand is battling its own militants in southern Thailand and Thaksin has so far characterized it as a domestic issue not tied to regional or international terrorism. More than 1,000 people have died since the separatist insurgency erupted early last year.

But the prime minister changed his tune yesterday.

"By [geography] it seems that they are far apart but actually along sea routes Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia are close. These people [terrorists] are commuting and rotating around in the region," he told reporters. "These people have been moving among these countries for generations. They have close connections and links. Their linkages come from relatives, friends and they used to go the same schools."

He said the alert was ordered because of such links.

Last week, a security adviser to Thaksin said that Indonesian fighters are involved in the southern insurgency.

"I have warned the authorities concerned several times about Indonesian fighters sneaking into the region but they have ignored it," General Kitti Rattanachaya said, adding that the militants infiltrated from Aceh in Indonesia.