By Vithoon Amorn

BANGKOK, May 12 (Reuters) Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said today his government remained committed to a peaceful resolution of the conflict in the Muslim-dominated far south, despite escalating violence.

Muslim militants waging a separatist campaign in provinces near the Malaysian border have managed to assert influence only in small pockets of rural areas, Surayud said on a radio and TV programme.

''There has been no precedent anywhere in the world where the use of force and violence could lead to solutions of problems,'' he said, ahead of a trip to the troubled region tomorrow.

''I am convinced we can achieve reconciliation in our country in the future. A peaceful end of problems can only be achieved through negotiations.'' Muslim militants have stepped up attacks on both civilian and government targets in recent weeks in the largely Malay-speaking region where more than 2,100 people have been killed since 2004.

Twice in three days this week, militants have shocked largely Buddhist Thailand with bloody attacks on soldiers and police.

On Wednesday, seven soldiers in a pick-up truck were killed by a roadside bomb, one of the deadliest attacks in the latest separatist war in the region which was an independent sultanate until annexed by Thailand a century ago.

On Friday, two policemen in Narathiwat Province were killed at a checkpoint of sandbags and barbed wire by about six militants attacking them with assault rifles and shotguns.

RESTRAINED REACTION Surayud said his government would react to growing violence with restraint.

''If we retaliated with violence, if we reacted as if they were in segregated areas, that they were not Thais, if we did that, it would beget more serious violence similar to the past U S experience in dealing with villages controlled by the Vietcong,'' he said.

Surayud's government said last week it was considering a limited amnesty for those suspected of involvement in the insurgency, which international security experts fear could attract the likes of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda.

But the amnesty offer appears to be making no difference to the militant movement which has never gone public with its aims.

Around 80 per cent of people in the troubled region are Malay-speaking Muslims who have few connections to the rest of the nation of 65 million people.

Asked if the government is losing administrative control of remote rural villages in the restive provinces of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani, Surayud said: ''I don't think it is true. If people have a chance to visit the areas, they would realize that these events have taken place only and repeatedly in places under their influence.'' ''Our immediate strategy is to maintain security in urban areas and expand them to rural districts.'' The prime minister said police and military units in the troubled provinces needed reinforcements to carry out their jobs.

REUTERS SM HT1030