Malaysia today said it was concerned about the recent flight of Thai Muslims over the border, and that Thailand should ensure the safety of its citizens in the troubled south to prevent more from coming.

"We are concerned because we do not want to see the flight of refugees into our country. It is very difficult for us to handle," Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told reporters.

"I think the responsibility is for the Thai side to ensure that they can overcome the fear, whether real or perceived fear, in the local community in Thailand so that they will not come here," he said.

Some 131 Thai Muslims crossed over into Malaysia's northeastern Kelantan state on Tuesday and took refuge in several mosques, saying that they feared for their safety in their country, where a Muslim insurgency is raging.

In unusually frank statements between neighbours who normally do not comment on each other's internal affairs, Syed Hamid said there was "no denying that the situation in Thailand is still not safe, it is still not stable".

"If their safety and security is assured then I think the question of them coming to Malaysia will not arise," he said.

Syed Hamid said he had spoken to his Thai counterpart Kantathi Suphamongkhon about reports of extrajudicial killings by Thailand's army in the south, which is now operating under an emergency decree.

"I have spoken twice to the Thai foreign minister and I think he has told me there is no truth. I'll be trying to get reports on our own to see what exactly is happening," he said.

Innocent civilians

The minister said that Malaysia was allowing the group of 131 Thais to stay in the country pending investigations over their status and their reasons for crossing over the border.

"The initial report that we have seems to suggest that they fear for their lives and that they have decided to come to this side, even though my colleague in Thailand has denied that they will be harmed," he said.

"The Thai side has asked us whether we can send them back, so we will look into it. We just cannot chase people away, we have to look into it," he said.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Friday that some of the 131 displaced people were Islamic militants who were trying to "internationalise" the unrest by crossing into Malaysia.

However, Kantathi apparently contradicted the prime minister by saying that the Thai Muslims were innocent civilians acting on rumours spread in the region, where almost 900 people have been killed in the past 20 months.