The SBPPBC, which oversees the three southernmost provinces, will invite intelligence officials who compiled the list  and security officials who followedup those on the list  to discuss the matter, said Col. Somkuan Saengpatranet, spokesman of the SBPPBC.

"We will check all processes to examine how the officials compiled the list  and if it is accurate," he told reporters. "There might be some mistakes," he said.

Army chief Sonthi Boonyaratglin said on Tuesday that he was concerned over the socalled blacklist used by authorities to catch suspected militants in the predominantly Muslim region. He said the way individuals came to be listed was questionable and personal grudges might be the underlying motive.

It is the first time that senior security officials publicly admitted that the government has blacklisted local residents for the suspicion of involvement in the violence in the region.

Reports about the lists surfaced in mid2004 with each security agency, including the military and police, believed to have prepared its own version. The people on these lists were said to be targets of manhunts or summary executions by rogue officials.

A spate of violence has rocked the region since the beginning of 2004 and killed more than 1,200 people so far. The government blamed separatist insurgents and has been struggling to contain the violence. It's tough handling raised international outrage over human right violation and bad treatment to Malay ethnic Muslim in the deep south.

Fresh violence occurred yesterday when a worker at a provincial Pattani administration office was shot dead while riding a motorbike to work at about 9am. 

Narong Nuna, a 38 yearold worker from Yala was hit in the head and died instantly, police said. It was another ridebyshooting  a common method of violence in the region. Police believed the attack was made to maintain violence and to challenge to the government.

The Nation