The culprits behind a weekend bomb attack in Thailand's Muslim south have slipped across the border to Malaysia due to red tape that delayed their arrest, premier Thaksin Shinawatra said today.

Thaksin said Thai authorities were working with Malaysian officials to track down the suspects who are believed to hold dual citizenship which allows them to cross checkpoints freely, but did not disclose their identities.

"The bombers should have been arrested that night but there were many administrative delays including in seeking approval of arrest warrants, therefore on Monday they slipped into Malaysia," he told reporters.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bomb planted on a motorcycle in a nightlife district of Sungai Kolok which injured 28 people, including eight Malaysians, in the latest in a wave of violence which erupted in January.

Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said earlier that the government would seek Malaysia's cooperation on the issue of dual-citizenship holders who are blamed for much of the unrest.

"After Malaysia has completed forming a government (after elections) Thailand will hold talks on the issue of dual citizens and we will decide whether they will have to choose one nationality," he said.

Eruption of violence

Southern Thailand has been rocked this year by an eruption of violence that has killed over 55 people, mainly government officials and security forces, in brutal hit-and-run attacks.

Police said Tuesday that the unrest had claimed the lives of two more people - a traffic policeman who died after being shot last week and another man killed in an attack on a privately owned saw mill.

Leaflets at the scene threatened further bloodshed if authorities made more arrests of suspected militants, after nine people were taken into custody last week, including a member of Thaksin's ruling Thak Rak Thai party.

Overnight, arsonists also set ablaze five targets - a police checkpoint, a forestry department office, a forestry official's home, and two shrimp warehouses, all in Pattani province.

The government has struggled to contain the unrest which it blames on Islamic separatists, among others.

Thaksin admitted Tuesday that the escalating violence had left him "extremely exhausted" but vowed to press on until the problems were solved and to travel to the south shortly.

New policy

Deputy Prime Minister Chaturon Chaisaeng held meetings with Muslim leaders in Pattani Tuesday to discuss the implications of the blast in neighbouring Narathiwat province.

Chaturon said Thaksin's visit would come next week and that during the trip he would finalise a new policy package on the south aimed at restoring peace in the worst-hit provinces which are now under martial law.

"The people here don't want martial law, and they want the army and police here to understand Muslim culture," he said.

Contradicting government claims that the separatists have little public support, a top security official said he believed three to five percent of the 1.6 million residents of the south were sympathisers.

"The militants have some 500 armed members and they want to recruit 3,000 more," added General Panlop Pinmanee, deputy director at the Internal Security Command.

Thailand is a predominantly Buddhist nation but about five percent of the population is Muslim, and most live in the five southern provinces bordering Malaysia.

The region was plagued by separatist violence until the 1980s when the government managed to curb militant activity, but in the last few years violence has flared again. - AFP