Thai PM Blames Foreign Militants For Separatist Unrest

"Thai officials have in the past accused extremists in Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines of training Islamic militants, but have always backed away from the comments afterwards."

BANGKOK (AFP)--Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej on Friday blamed foreign militants for instigating separatist unrest in mainly Muslim provinces of southern Thailand.

The region along Thailand's southern border with Malaysia has suffered more than four years of separatist violence that has left more than 2,900 dead.

Thailand has long insisted that the conflict is entirely domestic, but newly elected Samak told reporters he believed foreign militants had a hand in the unrest.

"Other people are staging attacks on our soil. We have concluded that our people are not doing this kind of thing," Samak said at his weekly news conference.

"But I don't want you (media) to say anything about Indonesia or the Philippines. We must preserve good relations. Let me visit the region first and I will tell you more later," he said.

Thai officials have in the past accused extremists in Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines of training Islamic militants, but have always backed away from the comments afterwards.

Samak controversially took over the post of defense minister after becoming elected prime minister, taking over from the military regime that toppled his ally Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006.

Only the third civilian ever to hold the post, Samak said he would be briefed on the southern conflict by security chiefs within the next few days.

He also said he would discuss the situation with Malaysia during an official visit to Kuala Lumpur later this month.

The Thai government usually denies any foreign role in the unrest.

In January, the spokesman for the previous military regime said Al-Qaeda was financing the Thai insurgents - only to be quickly contradicted by then-prime minister Surayud Chulanont.

After four years of battling the insurgents, Thailand has made little visible progress even in identifying the people or groups behind the attacks.

No group has claimed responsibility for the violence, and the government has yet to publicly identify any of the militancy's leadership.

Ousted premier Thaksin had been widely blamed for exacerbating the conflict with his heavy-handed tactics.

After the coup, hopes had risen that the Muslim general who toppled Thaksin would have more success in reining in the violence.

But despite a series of olive branches, the unrest became even deadly and more gruesome under military rule, as militants began mutilating corpses.