(Adds army chief, paragraph 6) By Darren Schuettler BANGKOK, July 17 (Reuters) - A group claiming to be the leaders of a four-year-old separatist insurgency in Thailand's Muslim south said on Thursday they had agreed to a ceasefire, but analysts were very sceptical. "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 TV. 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 predominately Muslim provinces bordering Malaysia. Chettha Thanajaro, a former army commander-in-chief and defence minister, said the agreement came after he had negotiated privately with 11 rebel groups since last year. "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 government shed little light on Chettha's statement, while army chief General Anupong Paochinda said he "does not know of these people". Chettha did not name the group or the two rebels who appeared on television, clad in khaki vests and round caps worn by Muslim men, against the backdrop of a blue, white and yellow flag. Analysts were sceptical of the announcement. "Everyone is extremely suspicious and it seems as if it may be a hoax of some sort. No one seems to recognise the flag either," an analyst at a Bangkok-based security firm said. Panitan Wattanayagorn, a political analyst and security expert at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, was also cautious. "In the past, it (the government) has met people claiming to represent insurgents in the region, but the violence never stops," he said. BLOODY HISTORY Three hours after the broadcast, rebels wounded one soldier in an ambush on an army patrol in Yala, one of three southernmost provinces home to most of Thailand's 6 million Muslims. The deep south, home to an independent sultanate annexed by predominantly Buddhist Thailand a century ago, has resisted efforts by various military governments in the 1950s and 1960s to import Thai language, culture and religion. The region accounts for 10 percent of rubber output from Thailand, the world's top producer. Separatist rebels waged a low-level guerrilla war in the densely forested region throughout the 1970s and 1980s, but their campaign petered out in the 1990s under a more conciliatory, democratic government in Bangkok. However, violence flared anew in 2004 shortly after then Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a former policeman, dismantled an army-run organisation that included civilians and Muslim religious leaders, and put police in charge of security. Thaksin flooded the region with 30,000 troops and police, but it further alienated the population, especially after 78 Muslim men arrested after a protest died of suffocation in army custody. After Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 coup, Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont apologised for the heavy-handed response, but his "hearts and minds" campaign failed to stop the bloodshed. Last year was the bloodiest in the far south since the insurgency began, with nearly 800 people killed. (Additional reporting by Ploy Chitsomboon and Nopporn Wong-Anan; Editing by David Fogarty)
Police and villagers block a convoy of nationalist protesters from reaching a disputed ancient temple on the country's border with Cambodia, 700 km (435 miles) northeast of Bangkok July 17, 2008. ...
