Insurgent violence in the deep South could spread out of the Malay-speaking region to Phuket and Bangkok if the central authorities continue with their oppressive tactics against the local community, a senior member of the Pattani United Liberation Organisation (Pulo) said yesterday.

Speaking to The Nation from an undisclosed location in Sweden, Pulo's foreign affairs chief Kasturi Mahkuta maintained that it was not entirely out of the question that any of the "Malay liberation groups" could be thinking about hitting targets outside the region.

Ultimately, the course of action taken would depend entirely on the actions of the government, Kasturi said.

Kasturi said Pulo has a significant number of officials and armed troops in southern Thailand but declined to go into detail or take credit for any of the attacks in the region.

"This is something we won't confirm or deny. I can't go into specifics," said Kasturi, when asked which major attacks or incidents could be attributed to Pulo.

In a surprising willingness to compromise, Kasturi said the Pulo leadership is concerned with the violence in the region and the high number of casualties and suggested that the violence appeared to be getting out of hand.

But there is also the tendency to unfairly blame all the attacks on the "Malay liberation groups", including Pulo, he added.

He also stated that Pulo is willing to enter into dialogue with the government to discuss "solutions other than a total breakaway".

Reports about possible attacks on major cities surfaced on Monday after a BBC news report quoted an unidentified Pulo official on the ground saying cities like Bangkok and Phuket could come under attack unless the government changed its course.

Kasturi said neither he nor other Pulo officials had authorised the BBC interview but added the organisation does not prevent its people from speaking to the press.

Don Pathan

The Nation

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Senator in dire straits

The condition of Fakruddin Boto, a Muslim senator for Narathiwat, who was shot by a gunman on Sunday morning while riding his motorbike home, has worsened.

The medical team has found a blood clot in an artery leading to the brain, his doctor said yesterday. "He has not regained consciousness since the day he arrived. After a thorough check up, we found a seven-centimetre clot in the artery that leads to the right side of his brain," said Sumet Peerawut, director of Songkhla Nakarin hospital. Because the blood clot had been there for more than 24 hours, the left side of Fackruddin's body is permanently paralysed.

"The condition of Fackruddin is worrisome and the chance of a return to normal life is very slim," he said.

Elsewhere in the region, violence has continued unabated, resulting in one man dead.

In the Krongpinang district of Yala, six militants killed 66-year-old Chaleaw Saengthamkrawin at his home, which is also a petrol station. The six suspected Muslim militants came on three motorbikes and asked for fuel. One then opened fire with an 11-mm pistol while Chaleaw was serving them, killing him instantly, police said.

Meanwhile Police Captain Prathuang Pumporn, 41, died in hospital early yesterday from severe head injuries sustained one week earlier when a bomb exploded on a railway in Songkhla and killed three of his colleagues. - The Nation