BANGKOK - Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his Thai counterpart Thaksin Shinawatra have pledged to boost cooperation on security matters following deadly unrest in southern Thailand.

The two leaders held a private meeting yesterday during which Thaksin briefed Abdullah on the violence which erupted last week and sought his help in further securing the porous border between the two states.

"Malaysia has agreed to close cooperation and extended necessary assistance in the area of security and intelligence (sharing) in order to fight against bandit groups," Thaksin told reporters after their talks.

Joint desire

He said the two leaders held "fruitful and satisfactory discussions" which also touched on regional and economic issues, including the country's joint desire to economically develop the border region.

Abdullah, making a one-day visit to Bangkok as part of a regional familiarisation tour since taking over from his predecessor Mahathir Mohamad, said the two sides were in the midst of joint border operations as part of increased security measures.

"Malaysia has certainly been cooperating with Thailand along the border," Abdullah told a press conference here, in an effort to help track down the perpetrators of what he described as "terrorist activities".

The mountainous border area is believed to be harbouring several of the assailants who coordinated and carried out a brazen pre-dawn raid on a Thai arms depot in Narathiwat province on January 4 which killed four soldiers.

Eighteen schools in the south were also set ablaze that night, while a day later two policemen were killed by a bomb in Pattani province.

Thai Defence Minister Thammarak Issarangkura Na Ayutthaya pointed this week to Muslim separatist groups for responsibility.

Thailand has detained several suspects but failed to make any arrests over the violence, while Thai officials have said the prime suspects have likely slipped into Malaysia.

Dual citizenship

As part of increased security measures, Thaksin said, Thailand and Malaysia will begin to fingerprint people holding dual citizenship.

Both nations have expressed concern over the dual citizenship issue as it helps people in the region slip in and out of the countries undetected.

Abdullah said economic development in the border region was a priority.

"We both agreed there should be more development (in the south). We want people along the border to be in the mainstream of economic development," he said.

The two sides also discussed setting up a mechanism chaired by their foreign ministers to jointly develop tourism, the region's Asia Bond, Islamic banks, fisheries, and an economic growth triangle including Indonesia.