Thai embassies in Europe had been reporting the actions of separatists living in exile to concerned security agencies, he said.

At the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, junta chief Sonthi Boon-yaratglin instructed the ministry to get information on Thai nationals who have resettled in Sweden and other countries in Europe, following reports linking them to violence in the predominantly Muslim region.

Many of the Thais used to live in Malaysia but were later expelled for "failing to behave", Sonthi is reported to have said.

"The groups we have followed and reported back to Bangkok on are both the previous generation of separatists - such as members of the Patani United Liberation Organisation (Pulo) - and the new generation, no matter how they linked each other," Tharit told reporters.

Foreign Minister Nitya Pibulsonggram would meet his Swedish counterpart Carl Bildt, to discuss the matter on the sidelines at the Asia Europe Meeting in Hamburg, Germany, next week, he said.

Stockholm was likely to help monitor the movement of Thai separatists, Tharit said, but "such co-operation would be under legal restrictions to protect their freedom of movement in accordance with Swedish laws".

In fact, the Thai intelligence community has already established contacts with the older generation of separatists exiled in Europe, such as Pulo and Bersatu members.

But while the old separatists are no strangers to the intelligence service, the new generation, and "brains" behind the current brutal militants, were not easy to access, according to academic Pirayos Rahimula, a former lecturer at Prince of Songkhla University's Pattani campus.

Tharit said the separatists' reported activities in Europe were little more than propaganda, such as the Pulo website, which always criticises the Thai authorities for their handling of the situation in the deep South. The website is banned in the Kingdom.

Supalak Ganjanakhundee

The Nation