Thaksin frees some 'innocent' detainees

Thaksin frees some 'innocent' detainees

Alisa Tang, Associated Press/Bangkok

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra announced on Saturday that hundreds of Muslims detained after a riot in the country's restive south would be freed, in a bid to ease tensions over the deaths of 85 accused rioters -- including 78 who died in military custody.

Reporters saw 238 ex-prisoners at the Inkayut army camp in Pattani province put on four buses for nearby provincial capitals to be reunited with their families.

It was not immediately clear whether detainees were also freed from other camps, although the official Thai News Agency said "all innocent youth" involved in Monday's riot had been released.

In his weekly radio address on Saturday morning, Thaksin said that about 900 of the more than 1,200 people in detention would be freed.

He added that interrogations had found the remainder should be held for further investigation and possible prosecution.

The announcement came after Thaksin promised on Friday to set up an independent commission to investigate the deaths. He said the detainees who died had been stacked on top of each other in overcrowded trucks, face down.

"I believe that everything should be done in a transparent manner, and the people are entitled to the truth, and the government must not hide anything as it has no hidden agenda," Thaksin said.

He said 78 had died, most of them from suffocation, by the time the trucks arrived at detention camps. At least seven others died during the riot, apparently shot by security forces.

Thaksin said he regretted the deaths and blamed them on bad decisions by soldiers and a shortage of army trucks to transport the prisoners.

Violence continued on Saturday when two people riding to work in Narathiwat province were killed by motorcycle gunmen.