Malaysia defended itself against charges by Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra today that Kuala Lumpur was not cooperating fully in efforts to quell violence by Muslim militants.

More than 200 people have been killed in southern Thailand near the Malaysian border this year in a resurgence of separatism in the Muslim-dominated region, and Bangkok has claimed that some of the militant leaders are in Malaysia.

Thaksin said that Thailand had received little help from Malaysia even though Thai intelligence had informed them of the presence of alleged ringleaders in the country.

"We still lack cooperation in making arrests in spite of sending the warrants," he said.

Asked about the criticism at a news conference, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said: "I don't know what is meant by little cooperation."

"There's been a lot of contact between the security people of both countries. The security of southern Thailand is equally important to us."

But, he said, there was confusion over the names given for the alleged militants, and "we don't have the addresses. It will take time. We need to verify the information and the information is not straightforward," he said.

In April, Thaksin irritated the government here with similar charges, leading Syed Hamid to tell Bangkok to stop playing "the blaming game".

Thaksin later visited Malaysia for talks with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who pledged full support for Thailand's efforts to crush the militants. - AFP