About half of a group of 131 Thai Muslims who fled to Malaysia seeking safe haven there want to return to Thailand, Thai Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon said today.

Kantathi also rejected suggestions that the continuing unrest in Thailand's Muslim-majority south be discussed within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) grouping, saying it remained a domestic matter.

The refugees, mostly from Thailand's Narathiwat province, crossed into Malaysia late last month saying they feared for their lives, triggering a diplomatic spat between the neighbours.

"Thailand is preparing to accept them back to Thailand and to my understanding (about) half of them wanted to return to Thailand, but we cannot check their names," Kantathi told reporters.

Kantathi said Thailand would wait for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) to finish interviewing them at a holding centre in Malaysia before deciding what action to take.

"Based on information we obtained from UNHCR, they have not yet issued any person of concern cards to the 131 Thais," he said.

Domestic matter

The Thai government had urged the UNHCR not to take up their cases, claiming militants were among the 131 and that the others were tricked into crossing the border to "internationalise" the issue.

Although Thailand had spoken about the unrest with fellow Asean members including Malaysia, it remained a domestic matter not a regional one, and should therefore not be put on the regional bloc's agenda, Kantathi said.

Separately, former prime minister Anand Panyarachun said Monday his peace commission would keep working to find peaceful answers to the unrest despite the brutal killings of two navy officers last week by suspected militants.

More than 950 people have been killed in near daily shootings, bombing and arson attacks that authorities blame on a complex web of Islamic separatists, organized crime and local corruption.