Thailand's Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont called on ousted Premier Thaksin Shinawatra to return to Thailand to defend charges against him, insisting that the government is ready to take care of his safety.

Surayud, in a television interview broadcast on Saturday morning, said it is better that Thaksin returns to defend the charges than to rouse his supporters.

He insisted that the government did not treat him unfairly as he has claimed.

On the Democracy Alliance against Dictatorship's rally that is to be staged on Saturday, Surayud said he is confident the protest will not turn violent because the majority of the people understand well that the country is moving towards democracy.

Also on Saturday, local police said three people were killed and at least 10 others injured when insurgents launched coordinated attacks, including school arsons, in southern Thailand on Friday night.

An unknown number of insurgents on a pick-up truck opened fire at a teashop in Bannang Sata district of Yala Province, at about 9:10 PM (14:10 GMT), using assault rifles. Three were killed on the spot and several injured were rushed to the provincial hospital.

All of the three victims were 14-year-old boys, local news network The Nation reported.

Meanwhile, the insurgents also set fire to power poles and rubber tiles at many spots in Yala's Muang district.

Insurgents also detonated a bomb, destroying two power poles on the Yala-Bannang Sata Road in Muang districts.

In nearby Songkhla Province, the insurgents set fire to five schools in Sabayoi district at about 9 PM (14:00 GMT), causing huge damages.

Thailand's three southernmost provinces -- Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani have been troubled with insurgency-related violence, which has claimed more than 2,300 lives since it resumed in early 2004.

(Xinhua News Agency June 23, 2007)