By IOL South East Asia Correspondent.

BANGKOK, July 11 (IslamOnline) - Muslim separatists in Southern Thailand are accused of killing two police officers in Narathiwat’s Sungai Padi district, news agencies reported Thursday.

A group of armed men on Wednesday attacked a police outpost, killing two officers assigned to provide security at a village school.

No one has come forward to claim responsibility but authorities believe it was the work of Muslim separatists calling themselves Mujahideen Islam Pattani (MIP), the Nation Newspaper said.

It is not the first time that the police mentioned the group but it is surely the very first time they are associated with violence, sources told IslamOnline.

Two Police officers died in the attack, while two other officers suffered gunshot wounds and are recovering at a hospital in Sungai Padi district.

The attack came one day after plan to financially reward 12 police officers per death was revealed, the police said, according to the Nation.

The plan was widely reported in the Thai-language press following the interception of police radio messages by journalists assigned to cover the ongoing strife in the Muslim-dominated region.

Unidentified gunmen in the deep South have killed 14 police officers this year, the paper added.

However Police chief General Sant Sarutanond said he believed that it was the work of an organized group wanting to make a name for themselves by stirring up trouble in the region, not separatists.

"Don't call them separatists. Don't make it out to be more than what it is. This is not an organized effort. Let's just call them a group of people who are looking to destroy the lives of police officers to create a situation that appeared to be out of control so that they can benefit economically from the chaos," said Sant.

Thailand’s Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said earlier that there were no terrorist or separatist threats in the country. He also said investigations proved there were no Al-Qaida linked rebels or terror organizations in South Thailand since Thailand had nothing to do with anti-Muslim activities.

However some officials are blaming the current state of tension and killings on the absence of the military in the region. The army pulled out most of its units after the clamping down on the Patani United Liberation Organization (PULO).

The PULO was, until the early 1990’s the most feared and most active anti-government group in the Southern region. The PULO suffered several heavy losses during encounters with the Thai army, which was helped in a certain way by the Malaysian authorities.

The group also claimed that the police had tortured to death one of its members in captivity. The “martyr” as they call him is Tok Ku Ismail. They say he was killed between 2000-2001 in custody.

The PULO said security men kidnapped him in civilian clothes at his rented home in Kelantan, Malaysia. He was escorted to Pasir Mas, Kelantan, Malaysia and transferred to another vehicle, which crossed the Thai-Malaysian Border to Ban Bendang Dalam near Saiburi (Teluban) in Patani province.

There he was allegedly slashed with a knife in the legs and body to portray that he was killed in a gunfight between PULO and Thai forces.

The Thai authorities never commented on the incident, though some reports from Southern Thailand indicate that Muslim separatists attack local police in revenge for their killing of Muslims in the region.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Purachai Piumsombun said the government would put up bounties for information leading to the arrest of the leader of the attackers perpetrated on Wednesday and his accomplices.

Purachai added that he would seek assistance from the Malaysian authorities to tighten their side of the border in case the armed men seek refuge on the Malaysian side. Authorities have identified 10 suspects, whose arrest warrants were issued over two years ago but who are still at large.