Thailand has informed Malaysia that it suspects terrorists were involved in a series of deadly attacks in the south, Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency today.

Bernama said Syed Hamid told reporters Thailand "considered the attacks as those of terrorists and not bandits" - a stand which contradicts most official statements out of Thailand.

Syed Hamid held talks with Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai here yesterday, when he flew in to brief Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on the violence which has claimed six lives since Sunday.

Syed Hamid said the "terrorists" were Thai citizens and no Malaysians were involved, adding that the situation could have serious implications if not handled well, Bernama reported.

"In the incident people were not only killed but the threat of militancy has emerged in Thailand with the terrorists managing to rob military camps of weapons," he said.

Business conflict

Thai officials have repeatedly blamed "bandits" for the violence, although Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Monday implicated Islamic militants "tied to mujahiddin". He later said, however, that business conflicts were probably the root of the trouble.

A separatist movement has rumbled on for decades in Thailand's mainly-Muslim south, which borders Muslim Malaysia, but most analysts believe the groups have now splintered and would be unable to launch such well-coordinated attacks independently.

They have said this week's attacks were a marked departure from previous spates of violence in the region and could have been organised crime gangs and Islamic militant groups working together.

Four soldiers were killed Sunday during an arms heist by dozens of assailants as 18 schools were set ablaze in Narathiwat and Yala provinces.

On Monday, martial law was declared in some districts after two bomb blasts killed two policemen.

The violence continued, with two policemen injured in an armed attack on a police station. - AFP