Thai army detains 160 in Muslim south raids

YALA, Thailand, June 25 (Reuters) The Thai army has detained 160 Muslims, including six women, without charge in a series of raids in the rebellious far south, a spokesman said today.

The detainees were taken for questioning to an army camp in Pattani, one of three provinces where more than 2,300 people have been killed in a three-year separatist insurgency in the Malay-speaking region.

Colonel Acra Tiproch said the detainees, who can be kept without charge for 28 days under an emergency law, would be freed if found not to have been involved in the violence but DNA samples would be kept on record.

Acra said he believed about a quarter of the detainees were subject to arrest warrants and would be charged and those found to support or sympathise with the insurgency would go through a re-education camp.

The raids occurred last week in Yala and Narathiwat in the hilly jungles along the Malaysian border after rebels intensified attacks on government schools, civil servants and security forces.

In one of the most shocking attacks, three Buddhist teachers were killed earlier this month despite the presence of 30,000 troops and police in the region, annexed by largely Buddhist Bangkok a century ago.

Since taking office in October, Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont has fought off pressure from Thailand's Buddhist majority to take stronger action, saying he remains committed to a peaceful resolution.

He has apologised for the harsh policies of his ousted predecessor, Thaksin Shinawatra, and promised restraint in dealing with the violence. But he has had no more success than Thaksin in dampening the violence.

REUTERS SKB VV1619