Thai forces blamed for bloodshed

Hundreds of protesters clashed with police

An Islamic leader in Thailand's troubled south has said authorities overreacted to a protest on Monday which left six people dead.

Clashes erupted between at least 1,500 protesters and security forces outside a police station in Narathiwat province.

At least 300 people have been arrested and are being questioned by police.

The incident was one of the most serious to have taken place in Thailand's troubled south in months.

Abdullahman Abdulsomat, chairman of Narathiwat's Islamic committee, said he thought the security forces had been too heavy-handed.

"I... sympathise with our officials in dealing with this type of situation but they should have used more peaceful means. They overreacted," he was quoted as saying by the Bangkok Post.

They have done a great job Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra

Southern police chief Manote Graiwong told Bangkok radio that protesters were being questioned to find out who persuaded them to gather and how they were mobilised.

He said that many of the demonstrators were armed and appeared to have taken drugs.

Weapons claim

Police said they fired water cannon and tear gas to disperse the crowd, that had gathered at the district police station in Takbai, Narathiwat. Some reports also said police used live ammunition.

Protesters were demonstrating against the detention of six men accused of providing weapons to Islamic militants.

Six civilians died and at least 20 people, including some police officers, were injured.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who flew to the south after the clashes, praised the security force's response.

"They have done a great job," he told reporters. "They (the protesters) really set out to cause trouble so we had to take drastic action against them," he said.

Sporadic violence continued overnight despite a curfew in the area. A school was torched and tyres were burned on a highway in Narathiwat.

More than 350 people have died this year in clashes between militants and security forces in Thailand's Muslim-majority southern provinces.

Muslims in the south have long complained of discrimination, and civil servants and security officers have been targeted in a wave of violence which began in January this year.

Muslim separatists fought a low-key insurgency in the region in the 1970s and 80s.