A Thai Islamic separatist movement denied today that it had sparked the flight of 131 Muslims from Thailand into Malaysia, saying the people were fleeing violence and harassment by authorities.

"The 131 asylum seekers and many more in Malaysia are ordinary local people who fled when they cannot live under Thai harassment and are always victimised by the Thais," the Patani United Liberation Organization (Pulo) said in a letter sent to the Nation newspaper.

Thailand on Thursday accused Pulo of stirring rumors of an imminent government crackdown to frighten the villagers into crossing the border in a bid to "internationalize" the conflict.

Pulo was active in southern Thailand in the 1970s, staging bombings as part of a campaign to win independence for three Muslim provinces. The group largely disintegrated in the 1980s and is now guided by exiles in Europe.

The UN's refugee agency interviewed the displaced Thais last week to determine their status, but said it would not release its findings for two weeks.

Pulo said the villagers fled across the border after Thai security forces killed an imam and 17 others in two attacks late last month.

"The Thai security men ran amok and killed suspects indiscriminately without investigations, as they are allowed as stated by their own creation of emergency law," PULO's letter said.

Meeting in Langkawi

Thailand has imposed emergency rule in southern provinces along the Malaysian border, giving authorities sweeping powers to detain suspects and granting officials immunity from prosecution.

The Thai Muslims crossed into Kelantan, saying they feared for their lives in restive southern Thailand, and triggering a diplomatic spat between the neighbours.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Malaysia said that among the displaced people were 61 men and 21 women, including one who was pregnant, as well as 49 children aged from five months to 17 years.

Thai Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai Vanasathidya said Monday he believed the UNHCR would not find that the Thai Muslims are refugees, and that they would be repatriated.

"We believe the information (about the villagers) we gave to UNHCR was reasonable," he said.

The flight of the Muslim villagers heated up long-simmering tensions between Thailand and Malaysia over the conflict in the south, where most residents are ethnic Malay and Muslim, unlike the rest of the predominantly Buddhist nation.

Thai intelligence officials accused militants of meeting on the Malaysian resort of Langkawi to plot attacks, a charge Malaysia denied .