Thailand agrees to share security information

Thailand agrees to share security information

Agencies, Vientiane/Bangkok

Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia have agreed to boost cooperation on security amid fears that Muslim unrest in the southern Thai provinces could explode into a regional threat, officials said on Monday.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra met the leaders of the two Muslim nations on late Sunday to soothe tensions after he threatened to walk out of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit here if leaders raised the unrest.

The issue was however not raised in a leaders' meeting that opened the two-day summit that started in Laos on Monday, officials said.

Thaksin, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono agreed on late Sunday to intensify cooperation on law enforcement and share intelligence to curb radical groups, said Thai foreign ministry spokesman Sihasak Phuangketkeow.

"The causes of the situation (are) domestic. It's not part of any international terrorist network but of course we are concerned about the introduction of extremist ideologies among the youths," he told AFP.

"We are concerned about the possibility of extremist groups in the region connecting together and this could become a serious problem.

"We are concerned about the possibility of links among extremist movements in the region, that's why it's important for us to share intelligence."

The unrest in Buddhist Thailand's south has left some 550 people dead this year. International concern about the violence peaked last month when 87 Muslim protesters died, most of them from suffocation while packed on to army trucks.

Thaksin has said ASEAN's policy of not interfering in the domestic affairs of its members meant the unrest should not be raised by leaders at the annual summit.

Some ASEAN members had wanted the issue to be addressed because of fears the unrest could spill over Thailand's borders, particularly into its southern neighbor Malaysia.

Thaksin's spokesman Jakrapob Penkair told AFP the Malaysian and Indonesian leaders "expressed their full understanding and agreement to the principle of non-interference".

"In fact, the Malaysian leader at the summit this morning mentioned the fact that the principle of not interfering in each other's affairs remains one of the most important tenets that holds ASEAN together," he said.

Abdullah had however stressed that Malaysia "reserves the right to ask questions", Jakrapob said.

Thaksin was on Sunday "very clear in saying that they had no problem sharing information but they have a problem sharing it in the ASEAN forum because they don't wish to multilateralize the problem", Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said.

Abdullah told the Malaysian media here on Monday that he welcomed Thailand's move to set up an independent body to investigate the October killing of nearly 90 protesters as "their efforts would help restore confidence of residents in the south."

In a related development, suspected Islamic rebels shot dead a soldier driving his daughter to school and wounded a police informant on Monday in Thailand's Muslim-majority south, where violence has left hundreds dead this year.

Police killed a suspect in another incident, officials said.

Sgt. Praphan Nothong, 43, was shot three times while driving his motorcycle in Pattani province's Kok Pho district, said police Sub. Lt. Monrat Silarak. The motorbike crashed, but Praphan's daughter was unhurt.

In a separate incident, 48-year-old Narong Kaewprakasit was shot and wounded as he drove a motorcycle to his repair shop in Narathiwat province's Sungai Kolok district, said police Sub Lt. Anond Praditsaeng. Narong had been wearing a bulletproof vest.

In the first attack early on Monday, police fatally shot a suspected Islamic insurgent -- Mukata Puleng, 25 -- and seized seven assault rifles and ammunition, three dynamite bombs and two hand grenades from the pickup truck in which he'd been riding, said police Maj. Col. Worawut Kittisakronnakorn.

Security officials in Pattani province's Panareh district had received a tip about people transporting weapons, he said. They followed the pickup after it failed to stop at a checkpoint.

Maj. Gen. Thani Thawitsri, deputy regional police commander, said Mukata belonged to a separatist group called the Gerakan Mujahideen Islam Pattani, or GMIP, and was wanted for the murders of a deputy village headman and a resident in Pattani's Janae district.

Police had offered a 500,000 baht (US$12,658) bounty for any tip-off leading to Mukata's arrest. Police are also offering rewards for help in arresting 45 other suspects believed to be responsible for causing violence in the deep south.