Thailand is optimistic about resolving a row with Malaysia over the flight of 131 Thai Muslims across the border in August, but has stopped short of saying when they would return home.

"I feel a sense of optimism," Thai Foreign Minister Katathi Suphamongkhon said in an interview with AFP in Bangkok yesterday.

"We have received positive messages and signals from them. They would like to solve this problem together with us. So we hope that we can work closely with them and come to a solution."

The Thai Muslims would receive a "security guarantee", he added, without giving a target date for the group's return to mainly Buddhist Thailand.

Bilateral ties have deteriorated since the group from the southern province of Narathiwat crossed into Malaysia, saying they were fleeing separatist unrest.

More than 1,000 people have died in the region's unrest since January last year.