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BANGKOK: Thailand on Monday backed away from comments that extremists from Cambodia and Indonesia were training separatist rebels in the Thai south, after the accusations provoked outrage from Cambodia.
General Watanachai Chaimuanwong, a senior security adviser to the Thai prime minister, said last week that foreign experts were providing weapons and bomb making training in the Muslim-majority south.
But on Monday he said the government had no evidence to back up those claims, and said it was a "sensitive issue."
"Intelligence reports pointed to specialists from Indonesia and Cambodia training rebels in southern Thailand, but the government cannot prove or confirm their nationalities because we don't have clear evidence yet," Watanachai told reporters.
Watanachai said on Thursday that Thai authorities were investigating reports that hundreds of Cambodian Muslims with links to the Jemaah Islamiyah extremist network may have slipped into Thailand.
His comments were not well received by Cambodia. Khieu Kanharith, Cambodian government spokesman, said it was a "gross accusation" and accused Thailand of trying to find a scapegoat for the southern violence.
More than 2,200 people have been killed in the three southern provinces bordering Malaysia since the latest insurgency erupted in January 2004, and rebels have recently stepped up their bloody campaign for a separate state.
The Thai government had previously denied that the insurgents were receiving any assistance from overseas groups, and insisted it was an internal problem.
Watanachai said Monday that the government, installed after a coup last September, was again trying to launch a round of negotiations with rebels, in their latest bit to end the violence.
He cautioned, however, that the unrest may not be solved within this government's term.
The military-installed government has promised elections and a democratically elected government by the end of the year.
- AFP/ir
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