Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra today accused Islamic militants of trying to "internationalise" the unrest in the south after 131 Thai Muslims fled across the border to Malaysia seeking safe haven.

Malaysian police have said that the displaced people, including women and children, insisted they were escaping the violence in the troubled region where almost 900 people have been killed in the past 20 months.

But Thaksin said that at least some of them were linked to the insurgency raging in the southern provinces bordering mainly-Muslim Malaysia.

"Some of them are militants in disguise. They are trying every possible way to internationalise the unrest issue but we and the Malaysian government are cooperating closely and there is no problem," he said.

However, Thai Foreign Minister Khantathi Suphamongkhon apparently contradicted the prime minister by saying that the displaced people were innocent civilians.

"As far as I know those who fled into Malaysia are innocent. They heard rumours which are not in line with the facts, and may have been spread by a certain group of people," he said, without elaborating.

Kantathi said that the 131 Thais, who did not have any travel documents and are being dealt with by Malaysian immigration authorities, would be brought back to Thailand.

Temporary shelter

Malaysia's Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Thursday that the country was prepared to provide temporary shelter to the Thai illegals if the situation continued to be unstable, but would not recognise them as asylum-seekers.

Thaksin said that the government would act to halt any repeat of the wave of bombings that rocked the region in the past few days, with about 20 blasts that killed one policeman and 21 others injured.

"This is their retaliation in response to arrest warrants being issued for their key members - we have to work harder," he told reporters.

Thaksin urged mobile phone operators to introduce new technology to prevent bombs being detonated by mobile phones, saying he wanted it to be in place within two months.

"The situation is worsening, so we have to work on this technical issue," he said, complaining that some operators were "reluctant" to invest in the system that would operate in the three worst-hit provinces.

Villagers slammed

Thaksin also slammed residents of Lahan village in Narathiwat province who have declared their community a "no go" zone for security authorities, and formed a human shield to prevent them from entering and searching their homes.

"This issue must be resolved, there should not be any area in this country which is off limits to officials. Any area that claims they are restricted - I will go there myself," he said.

The Bangkok Post said Friday that the Lahan villagers had risen up after the shooting death of a Muslim religious cleric there earlier this week, which they suspected was carried out by security officers.

Violence in the region continued Friday, with a bomb blast in Narathiwat that wounded three members of the security forces, a senior Buddhist monk and a Muslim villager.

The security forces had been escorting the monks as they went on their daily rounds begging for alms and the device, hidden in a garbage bin, exploded as the group walked past, police said.

"Private Sompong Kongkaeo was in the most critical condition as his two legs were blown off and shrapnel hit his body," Colonel Nukul Kraithong, superintendent of Narathiwat's Muang district police station, told AFP .