Violence in Thailand's Muslim south has little to do with the drug trade and is the work of a growing but still shadowy movement that wants a separate Islamic state, a senior government adviser said yesterday after this week's mass killings of militants.
Separately, a statement posted on the Internet and attributed to a Muslim rebel group warned foreign tourists not to visit popular beach resorts in southern Thailand, including the tourist island of Phuket. The warning could not be verified.
General Kitti Rattanchaya, the top security adviser for the south, said that hundreds of fighters have been trained in Thailand and overseas and are ready to sacrifice themselves, although he declined to name countries.
His comments appeared to contradict Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's earlier insistence that drug traffickers and corrupt politicians were fueling the region's troubles and that the militants have no foreign links.
Security forces killed 108 fighters -- mostly young men wielding machetes -- who attacked police and army posts on Wednesday. Three policemen and two soldiers were also killed in the mayhem -- the worst bloodshed seen in the mainly Buddhist nation in years.
Government forces had been tipped off about the raids and waited with overwhelming firepower. Human rights groups and Muslim preachers accused troops of using excessive force against the poorly armed militants, and local residents alleged civilians also were killed.
"Drugs and illegal businesses are not major factors in the south," Kitti said.
"The target of this terrorist organization is separatism and the establishment of a Muslim state," he said.
Kitti said the separatists have been secretly building their ranks for almost a decade by "inciting people and training militias at religious schools."
They are now reaching the sixth of seven steps toward establishing an independent Muslim state, he said. "The sixth stage is the armed fight and the undeclared war," he said, adding that the final stage is revolution and the formation of an Islamic state.
In southern Pattani province yesterday, hundreds prayed at the Kreu-Sae Mosque where 32 people were killed two days earlier when Thai security forces attacked holed-up militants.
"There shouldn't have been deaths here," businessman Hadi Jindasak said.
"Those in charge could have waited and caught them alive instead," he said.
Others attending weekly prayers at the 425-year-old holy place said they were angry that the Islamic community had allowed militancy to emerge among its young people.
An Islamic cleric arrested after Wednesday's slaughter of militants denied government allegations they were drug addicts or criminals, insisting they were fighting for independence.
"We are fighting for a separate Muslim state," said Mama Mathe-eyoh, who was paraded before reporters Thursday wearing a skull cap, long green shirt and religious beads.
"We are not drug addicts and we did not get paid by anyone," he said.
It was the first time any Islamic leader in the Muslim-dominated south openly spelled out objectives of the shadowy guerrillas who stepped up anti-government attacks this year. No group has claimed responsibility for attacks.
The preacher claimed he led a militant unit in one of more than a dozen simultaneous attacks on Wednesday.
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