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The Patani United Liberation Organisation (Pulo), in a statement to the press, said the investigation into the massacre that also injured 12 others inside the mosque was sabotage by certain unnamed authorities because the culprits, one of whom an arrested has been issued, was part of a government-trained village militia.

The arrest warrant for Narathiwat resident Suthirak Khongsuwan was issued about two months after the incident but no progress has been made since then. Suthirak, a former ranger who later joined the Township Defense Volunteer (Or-Ror-Bor), remained at large.

The weapon used against the villagers were reportedly used in last year's November 17, 2008 drive-by shooting of a local cafe in Rangae district of the same province.

Pulo said the current administration of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva started off with some positive message but failed to deliver the promised justice to the local Malay Muslims who the group often described as "colonial subjects" of the Thai state.

Pulo said the government pay lip service to developing of the Malay-speaking South but these promises "serves primarily to satiate the appetite of journalists, opposition parties, NGOs, local complaints or even for the observation of the international community."

"The new propaganda, above all, is the government's unilateral effort to build the 'failed' Thai nation at the unfair expense of Malay Muslims in the Patani region, where they still live in fear under the terrorizing government apparatus, never embraced as true partner in sharing the responsibilities of problem-resolution," the statement said.

"Four Prime ministers passed by in just two years and all have failed to deliver justice and really sustainable development as hoped by the Malay Muslims, who are naturally anxious to manage their own affairs," it said.

Pulo regards the reinstatement of the Southern Border Provinces Administering Centre (SBPAC) and other similar agency as, as well as Emergency Law, as "nothing more than colonial-style apparatus" that benefits the Thai state mechanism in an occupied territory and promote the culture of impunity among security officials.

Government budget allocations to the Malay-speaking South were deemed as "handouts" and the community and social projects they carried out were equated to "brain-washing activities".