BANGKOK, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha dismissed on Tuesday criticisms that the escalated unrests in Thailand's Deep South region were primarily a religious conflict.
According to Prayut, separatist insurgents would fuel such criticisms that Buddhists are at odds with Muslims in the pre-dominantly Islamic provinces in southern Thailand, following Sunday's attack at a Buddhist temple in Narathiwat in which two monks were killed and two others injured.
The prime minister told reporters at the Government House that certain spots which could be at high risks of being attacked by bombing or gunfire range from schools and temples to military bases throughout the region, covering Patani, Yala, Narathiwat and Songkhla.
Prayut called on members of the media and the public to never fall for a "psychological trap" laid by the separatists who would certainly attribute the sustained violence in the southern provinces to religious differences.
Prayut said representatives of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation had earlier visited the pre-dominantly Islamic provinces in the Deep South to assess the situation for themselves and expressed support for peaceful, legal measures to cope with it.
In order to keep the aggravated situation under control, the authorities will not only use force but proceed with peace talks to end the chronic unrests, he confirmed.
