Thailand is sending more troops into its troubled Muslim dominated southern provinces to provide additional security for local Buddhist clergy following several killings of Thai Monks in the past week. Officials fear the killings of Buddhist Monks may be aimed at triggering inter-religious violence in Southern Thailand.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra announced the deployment of more troops to the region after nine people, including three Thai Buddhist monks, were killed. The Monks were hacked to death by masked men while making their daily begging rounds.

Sectarian violence in Thailand is extremely rare, and Bangkok-based diplomats have described the development as very shocking.

Mr. Thaksin said the government would not rest until the culprits were caught. He said the attacks on the Monks had been undertaken by people hoping to create conflict between Buddhists and Muslims in South Thailand.

Most of Thailand's 60 million people are Buddhists. The majority of the country's 6 million Muslims live in the southern provinces, which border predominately-Muslim Malaysia. Tensions in the South of Thailand were already high after an attack on a Thai military depot on 4 January 2004 that left 4 soldiers dead. The attackers made off with some 300 military weapons, including automatic rifles, and at the same time 18 schools were set on fire that day.

The Thai government blamed both local bandits and Islamic separatists for the violent attacks, and launched a massive security operation in the region. A curfew was imposed on several southern provinces and widespread searches of homes were carried out resulting in dozens of Muslims, including clergymen to be detained. But no formal arrests have been made in the January 4 attacks despite the military crackdown in the South.

The southern provinces of Thailand was the scene of Muslim separatist violence during the 1970s and 1980s. Government compromises combined with amnesties and negotiation led to most groups laying down their arms at that time.

Interior Ministry spokesman Somchai Petprasert blames the latest violence on terrorists. "I still believe terrorists are behind the violence in South Thailand, a big group who support these terrorists to fight the Thai government," he said.

But regional analyst Carl Thayer of the Australian Defense Force Academy said there are indications that criminal remnants of the Islamic groups are also involved in the latest outburst of violence.

Meanwhile, officials in the South of Thailand are bracing for further possible attacks to come.