Thai PM defends southern clashes

Thaksin: 'Please leave us alone'

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has rejected international criticism of his government's crackdown on suspected Islamic militants.

"We have done everything to exercise maximum restraint," he said in a weekly radio address.

More than 100 youths were killed by security forces on Wednesday, after they carried out raids on police and army posts in three southern provinces.

The UN has called on Thailand to carry out an investigation into the attacks.

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The New York-based group Human Rights Watch also questioned the level of force used by the Thai security forces to quash the attacks.

It said Thailand should investigate whether "such a high level of lethal force was necessary".

Malaysia's Islamist opposition party, PAS, described the killings and the bloody storming of a mosque "brutal, state-sanctioned terrorism".

"The Malaysian government equally stands condemned for turning a blind eye, for endorsing the licence for the Thai government to conduct the massacre against the Muslims in southern Thailand," PAS said.

Malaysian concern

According to the BBC's Jonathan Kent in Kuala Lumpur the Malaysian government's concern about the situation across its border with Thailand appears to be growing.

Who is behind it? No idea but we all know that a lot of money is involved and that foreigners are involved. Anchalie, Yala ,Thailand Have your say: Read more of your comments

Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has announced that he will send his Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to Bangkok on Tuesday to be briefed first hand on the violence.

He also said that people fleeing the fighting will be offered sanctuary in Malaysia, though he stressed that those wanted by the Thai authorities will be turned away.

But in his weekly address, Mr Thaksin criticised other countries for interfering in domestic affairs.

"Please don't intervene. Please leave us alone," he said.

"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."

The Thai leader said those criticising his country, particularly foreigners, should place Wednesday's events in the context of a campaign launched by Muslim separatists in January, in which nearly 100 members of the security forces, Buddhist monks and civilians had been killed.

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