ANGKOK, Thailand, April 28 — In the worst outbreak of violence in years of turmoil in Thailand's Muslim southern provinces, the government said 112 people were killed today when armed men staged a series of raids before dawn on police stations and security outposts.

Officials said the dead included 107 attackers, about 30 of whom were killed at the holiest mosque in the region, whose loudspeakers they used to call for a local uprising. The government said five police officers and soldiers also died.

No group claimed responsibility and there was no evidence today of a direct link to international terrorist groups. But the main regional group, Jemaah Islamiyah, which is connected to Al Qaeda, has had a presence in Thailand.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra blamed bandits and drug addicts, as he has in the past as dozens of police officers and local officials have been assassinated, scores of schoolhouses have been burned and bombs have been set at Buddhist temples.

Other analysts, however, say the violence grows out of the same grievances that led to a separatist rebellion in the 1960's and 1970's in the impoverished southern provinces, which feel neglected and repressed in this largely Buddhist nation.

Defence Minister Chetta Thanajaro said today's attacks were carried out by Muslim separatists who may have received training from abroad.

Experts in the region say that its grievances and its long-simmering rebellion offer clear opportunities for militant recruitment and that hard-line mosques have begun to appear.

The area has grown so dangerous that on Tuesday the government gave teachers permission to carry guns.

The violence has escalated since the start of the year, claiming the lives of 65 soldiers, police officers, government officials and Buddhist monks. On Jan. 4, more than 100 well-armed insurgents stormed a military depot, killed four soldiers and made off with more than 300 firearms.

Today's attacks on as many as 15 targets were something different. They were carried out in large part by lightly armed young men — many carrying only machetes — who were apparently willing to die in what some military officers were calling suicide raids.

"Most of the dead insurgents are youths of ages ranging from 15 to 20, but two of the leaders are aged about 50 and 60," said Lt. Gen. Proong Bunphandung, the chief of police for the south.

Witnesses said the attackers, some of whom wore black or green outfits and red headbands, shouted, "God is great!" and, "We are ready to die for God!"

Some military officials said some of the dead appeared to have taken drugs.

Most of the attacks, which were launched after the early-morning Muslim prayer, were crushed immediately. The siege on Kreasae mosque outside Pattani town lasted more than six hours and left the building battered and splashed with blood.

Officials said the high death toll was the result of good intelligence that had allowed the government to bring in reinforcements and prepare for the attacks.

Human rights advocates criticized the police and military for apparently setting a trap and maximizing casualties rather than trying to limit the bloodshed.

"The government didn't have to kill them all, but anyway the government killed them all," said Sunai Phasuk, a spokesman for human rights groups including Human Rights Watch. "They didn't have to storm into the mosque, but they did storm into the mosque — one of the holiest places in Muslim Southeast Asia."

Government officials said the heavy response was meant to teach a lesson and to quell further attempts at rebellion in the south. They said 17 attackers were taken prisoner.

Local leaders said they feared that the opposite would happen.

"I am really concerned that the problems in the South will escalate further," Abdul Rosue Aree, deputy chairman of the Islamic Council in Narathiwat, told The Nation daily newspaper.

"The incident will definitely affect Muslim people. They will have bad feelings towards authorities and the turmoil will continue and not be resolved."

The attacks were a sign of the severity of discontent in the region, Mr. Sunai said.

"No matter who they were, it is quite shocking that more than 100 people, most of them youths, were ready to sacrifice their lives in fighting against the authorities."

Among local witnesses, the phrase, "We are all Muslims" was repeated often, suggesting a level of sympathy for the raiders.

About 6 million of Thailand's 66 million people are Muslim, living mostly in the five southern provinces close to Malaysia. Many of them speak Malay and the frontier between the two nations is fluid.

Today's attacks took place in the provinces of Yala, Pattani and Songkhla near the Malaysian border, the country's only Muslim-majority provinces.

Muslims in the south have complained for years that they are discriminated against in jobs and education, that they receive inadequate government assistance and development and that their language and culture are being neglected and stifled.

The responses of the government to the intensifying violence have taken two opposite tacks.

On one hand, Mr. Thaksin has promised generous new development aid, including the building of an Islamic university. The government has backed away from attempts to force the Thai language and culture on the south.

On the other hand, the prime minister has declared martial law in three of the provinces, potentially intensifying an antagonistic relationship between residents and security forces. New military units were reported to be moving into the area following today's violence.