Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, seeking to soothe Muslim outrage a week after security forces killed 108 militants, began a southern tour on Thursday with a pledge to help their grieving families.
Under tight security, Thaksin visited the Muslim village of Baan Susoe which lost an entire team of 19 soccer players killed when they attacked a security checkpoint last week.
"Nobody wanted this to happen because we are all Thai. The incident took place from a misunderstanding and conflict among Thais," Thaksin, dressed in a bright silk shirt, told hundreds of villagers as armed security men watched nearby.
"The government is trying to lessen the burden of the families of the dead," he told the crowd.
Earlier, he met relatives of the dead soccer players and promised scholarships for two children whose father was killed in the April 28 violence.
Odeh Luemating, 52, sat quietly with other relatives as Thaksin spoke.
"I don't feel anything now because I have buried my son," he told Reuters later. "I just want the government to look after my grandchildren."
Bangkok is facing growing criticism that troops used excessive force to stop the raiders who attacked security outposts in three southern provinces, the worst day of violence since the unrest in the region began in January.
Five soldiers and police died in the attacks.
Muslims were particularly outraged after soldiers stormed the Krue Se mosque in Pattani town and killed 32 men who had taken refuge there after attacking a nearby police station.
Thaksin was due to visit Muslim schools on Friday, but it was not clear if he would go to the mosque.
Officials said they were assessing security at the mosque, where Muslims have flocked in the past week, some handing out leaflets condemning the "barbaric" Bangkok government.
The unrest has fuelled fears of a resurgent separatist movement in the south, where rebels fought a low-key, anti-Bangkok rebellion in the 1970s and 1980s, and where most of the population are Muslim ethnic Malays.
Thaksin has said the attackers were drug-crazed gangsters manipulated by criminal networks. But he has not ruled out foreign involvement in last week's violence.
"We are monitoring foreigners who may have been in the three provinces. If any are found to have had improper behaviour, we will expel them or prosecute them," he told reporters in Bangkok.
Some top officials say they suspect the attacks were the work of Islamic fundamentalists backed by foreign militant groups.
Authorities are trying to confirm the identities of several unclaimed bodies - believed to be foreigners - among those killed last week.
There is no hard evidence of direct links to groups like Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network or its Southeast Asian arm Jemaah Islamiah. But events in Iraq and Israel resonate for some in Baan Susoe.
"We watch TV and we feel sorry for our Muslim brothers and sisters in the Middle East," said a jobless man sitting in a tea shop where a poster of bin Laden was tacked up on a message board.
Thaksin, facing his biggest challenge since taking office more than three years ago, has promised millions of dollars in development aid to improve the plight of those in the south, which has lagged behind the wealthier north.
It's a theme he stressed in his speech at Baan Susoe.
"Anyone want a job? Raise your hands," Thaksin told the crowd. "We'll give you training and then you get a job".
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