YALA, Thailand (AFP) - Two bombs rocked southern Thailand, wounding at least 20 people, as Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra vowed there would be no cover-up over the deaths of 87 Muslims in the volatile region.
Friday's coordinated bombings followed a blast late Thursday that left two people dead and another 20 wounded and came as a separatist group warned of new attacks to avenge scores of protesters who died after being arrested on Monday.
Thailand's Muslim-majority south is in the grip of a violent separatist insurgency that re-emerged early this year and has since left at least 418 people dead, with Thaksin's administration coming under fire for its handling of the problem.
"In my national TV address (later Friday), there won't be anything covered up," said Thaksin, pledging to bring to justice anyone found guilty of using excessive force in the predominantly Buddhist country's south.
"They will be prosecuted objectively if found guilty. I want to reaffirm that my government is sincere and understanding in this situation," he said.
Six people were shot dead at the chaotic demonstration in Narathiwat province and another 78 were crushed to death or suffocated after they were arrested and crammed onto military transport trucks.
Three others were found drowned in a river near the protest site, the foreign ministry said.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has called on Thailand "to conduct a swift and independent investigation into each death, to refrain from excessive use of force and from the use of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment."
Thaksin has launched an inquiry by government officials and said its work would be completed soon, reaffirming during a meeting Friday with Islamic leaders that there had been no campaign of violence against Muslims.
Thaksin's Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said he had called his counterparts in Indonesia and other Muslim nations "and they understood and were satisfied" with his explanation of the incident.
But Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, appeared to toughen its line Friday, urging Thailand to bring to justice officers responsible for the detainee deaths.
In Kuala Lumpur, thousands of Malaysians staged angry protests Friday and called on Thaksin to resign.
Thaksin had initially defended the action of his officers, blaming fasting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and drug use among protesters for Monday's high death toll.
Most of the dead suffocated when 1,300 people were arrested and then stuffed into vehicles, after police and troops used water cannon, gunfire and tear gas to disperse the demonstrators calling for the release of six officials.
Senators who interviewed detainees Thursday said they were told of how the protesters were laid flat in the trucks and stacked five-high, crushing dozens of people below.
Meanwhile, Thailand's independent National Human Rights Commission on Friday visited Tak Bai, the scene of the tragedy, to begin its own probe. Their mission lasts until Monday.
Commission chairman Saneh Chamarik told AFP "it is quite obvious" that violations of human rights occurred in the deaths of the protesters.
An outlawed separatist group had vowed reprisals over the deaths, vowing to "burn" Thai cities in revenge.
On its website Friday, the Pattani United Liberation Organisation issued a fresh warning of further attacks and told tourists to "avoid police stations, music concerts, cafes, bars, nightclubs, railway stations and airports."
The latest bombings occurred in the southern town of Yala. Eight people were wounded, including three police, when the first roadside bomb went off at morning rush hour.
Another more powerful device then exploded at the same location, wounding 12 police including forensics experts investigating the first bombing.
A Malaysian man and a Thai woman died Thursday night in the border town of Sungai Kolok when a bomb exploded outside a bar. About 20 others were wounded.
The blast came shortly after Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak was quoted as saying Malaysians should avoid southern Thailand because it is "not peaceful and unstable."
10/29/2004 - 13:02 GMT - AFP