Seven Muslims arrested in Thailand's south

Bangkok, June 17: Thai police arrested seven Muslim men today who media reports said were members of a militant group in Thailand's Muslim far south.

The seven were detained during a raid on a rented house in the province of Yala, one of three southernmost provinces where more than 2,300 people have died in three years of unrest.

''We have evidence that one of the seven was involved in several violent incidents in Yala's Muang district. The other six are being investigated,'' district police chief Phumphet Pipatpetchphum told reporters.

He gave no further details, but radio and newspaper website reports said the seven, aged between 25 and 33, were connected to a militant group called RKK, or Runda Kumpalan Kecil -- which means ''Small Patrol Group'' in Malay.

RKK first surfaced in a Bangkok Post report in January 2006 which described it as one of several militant groups operating in the mainly Malay-speaking region near the Malaysian border.

No group has taken formal responsibility for the violence and, despite the presence of 30,000 troops and police, the near-daily gun and bomb attacks show no signs of abating.

In the latest incident yesterday, four Muslims including a religious teacher and a former provincial councillor were shot dead in the province of Narathiwat, police said.

Reuters>