Malaysia is worried the bloody clashes that killed more than 100 people in neighbouring Thailand could spill across its border, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said yesterday.

Abdullah said Malaysian forces had tightened border security, especially at points of entry. The country?s majority Malays share religious and ethnic ties with the Muslims of southern Thailand, making Bangkok?s response to rising violence there particularly sensitive to Malaysians.

Thai security forces shot dead more than 100 gun and machete-wielding Muslim youths on Wednesday and lost five soldiers after attacks on army and police posts in southern provinces bordering Malaysia. Abdullah said both fleeing Thai nationals or those responsible for Wednesday?s attacks could pose problems. ?We are worried most about the possibility of Thai nationals crossing over to our border to seek refuge or those hunted and suspected of having carried out the violence. That will be a threat to us also?, he told reporters. ?It is an area that can affect both Thailand and Malaysia if we don?t manage it well?, he added.

In Kota Bharu, capital of the northeastern state of Kelantan, police criminal investigation chief Salleh Mat Som emerged from a security meeting pledging more men and equipment for all four states bordering Thailand. ?We will also deploy armoured personnel carriers along the border?, he told reporters, without giving more details. He said the meeting agreed that police and the army would coordinate their border patrols. ?We are serious in dealing with the border issue to ensure the national security is not jeopardised?, he added.

At Peng Kubor, one of Kelantan?s main border posts, two police helicopters clattered overhead while marine police patrolled the narrow river separating the two countries. Frequent roadblocks marked the main roads south. Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar was earlier quoted as urging fellow citizens to avoid the region. ?I hope Malaysians do not travel freely to the troubled area. We are close neighbours and of course are concerned when insurgencies do not seem to cease?, Syed Hamid was quoted as saying by the Star daily.

Thailand has deployed troops to quell unrest in the predominantly Muslim region, which has a history of sometimes violent Islamic separatism. Relations between the southeast Asian neighbours have been strained since Thai officials said in March that militants behind a renewed bout violence in the area had taken refuge over the border in Malaysia. Malaysian and Thai leaders agreed this month to fight terror along their border to counter violent unrest in southern Thailand.

Jalil HAMID