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Bangkok: A group claiming to be the leaders of a bloody four-year-old separatist insurgency in Thailand's south on Thursday said it had agreed to an immediate ceasefire.
"All our fighting groups, both military and political groups, will support peace in the south from now on," a spokesman for the unnamed umbrella group said in a statement broadcast on army television.
If true, it would be the first time the shadowy rebels have claimed responsibility for the near daily bomb and gun attacks that have killed more than 3,000 people and hit rubber production in the provinces bordering Malaysia.
Chettha Thanajaro, a former army commander-in-chief and defence minister, said his peace talks with 11 rebel groups got under way in earnest last year. Some of the discussions were held in Germany.
"They need to keep their word. If there is no violence in the next week, then the government will get involved and start talking to them more," he said.
The rebel spokesman said groups that did not lay down their arms would be seen as "criminals" and pursued by security forces.
Chettha did not name the umbrella group or the two rebels who appeared on television against the backdrop of a blue, white and yellow flag.
The alleged rebel leader announced the ceasefire in the Malay language spoken by 80 per cent of people living in the deep south.
Analysts were sceptical of the ceasefire announcement.
"The question is whether the government has talked to the right people and the right group. In the past, it has met people claiming to represent insurgents in the region, but the violence never stops," Panitan Wattanayagorn, a security expert at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, said.
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