Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont yesterday commanded state agencies in the deep South to heal rifts between Buddhists and Muslims - while separatist group Pulo blamed them for the discord.

Surayud is worried sectarian clashes could escalate. The prime minister was in the troubled region yesterday after a series of violent attacks over the past fortnight looked set to inflame the divide between local Buddhists and Muslims.

Eight Buddhists were slain execution style in an attack on a commuter van in Yala's Yaha district, and then a mosque bombed - injuring 11 Muslims in the same area - last Wednesday.

Local residents accused Army Rangers of bombing an Islamic boarding school in Songkhla's Saba Yoi district on Saturday. Three students were killed and 10 hurt.

Local Muslims protested while Buddhists demanded Muslims respect law and order.

Surayud said: "I have instructed the director of the Southern Border Province Administrative Centre, the Fourth Army Region commander and governors of the South provinces to find solutions to halt the rift between the two religious groups."

Government officials and religious leaders in the deep South should encourage understanding between themselves before doing the same among ordinary people, the prime minister said.

Separatist group Pulo, or the Pattani United Liberation Organisation, accused authorities yesterday of "setting up" attacks in Yala as an "excuse to massacre" Malay Muslims.

The group's leaders live in exile. "The Thai authorities have been trying to deceive, arouse and win Thai national feeling and sympathy as they set afire seeds of hatred between Islam and Buddha," Pulo foreign-affairs chief Kasturi Mahkota said.

Pulo blamed news-media propaganda for provoking inter-religious and ethnic tensions.

"The Thai media is assigned to take part in plotting to exaggerate issues as daily front-page stories whenever violence incurs casualties among Thai security officials or civilian volunteers," he said.

The organisation demanded authorities bring to justice those responsible for both the commuter van and mosque attacks.

"Don't just blame and point fingers at the Pattani liberation movements. The Pattani people already know the dirty tactics used by the Thai authorities," Kasturi said.

Pulo strongly condemned the Yala incidents and the Saba Yoi shootings that had led to protests.

The Nation

PATTANI