Military

DATE=10/27/04

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-319935

TITLE=THAILAND/DEATHS INQUIRY (LONG)

BYLINE=NANCY-AMELIA COLLINS

DATELINE=BANGKOK

VOICED AT:

HEADLINE: Thai Prime Minister Apologizes For Deaths In South, Promises An Investigation

INTRO: Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has apologized for the deaths of more than 80 people during a violent demonstration in the largely-Muslim south of the country. Nancy-Amelia Collins reports from Bangkok that most of the dead were crushed or suffocated Monday when security forces jammed them one on top of the other into trucks.

TEXT: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra admitted to the Senate Wednesday that the deaths were the result of "mistakes" by the security forces. He says the authorities did not have enough trucks to transport more than 13-hundred demonstrators detained after a violent demonstration outside a police station on Monday.

Mr. Thaksin told senators the protesters had been jammed into trucks and "piled on top of each other," and at least 78, all or most of them Muslims, died of suffocation or were crushed to death. The Thai leader apologized for the "untimely" deaths, and said there would be an official investigation.

The 13-hundred detainees were among some two-thousand people taking part in a demonstration to demand the release of six Muslim men being held on weapons charges in the southern province of Narathiwat. Police also fired tear gas, water cannon and live ammunition to disperse the crowd, killing seven other protesters.

Despite his apology, Mr. Thaksin refused to criticize the security forces, saying they had taken a "soft approach."

Thai government spokesman Jakrapob Penkair says the government hopes the investigation will prevent future incidents like this one.

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"That was definitely not the intention of the government that any incident should trigger into that many great losses. So we are setting up an investigation team or two in order to find out the facts and truths of the matter."

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Monday's incident was the latest in a chain of violent incidents that erupted in the south last January, and has now claimed more than 430 lives. Most of the Muslims of predominately-Buddhist Thailand live in the southern provinces, and the government has blamed the violence on Muslim separatists.

Islamic leaders from the region expressed anger over the incident Tuesday, and warned that it would only lead to more violence.

The United States, human rights groups and a Muslim political party in neighboring Malaysia have all called for an inquiry into the killings. (SIGNED)

NEB/HK/NAC/BK