ANGKOK, April 28 - In the worst outbreak of violence in years of turmoil in Thailand's Muslim southern provinces, 112 people were killed Wednesday when scores of armed men raided as many as 15 police stations and security outposts, the government said.

Officials said the dead included 107 attackers, about 30 of whom were killed at the most revered mosque in the region, whose loudspeakers were used to call for a local uprising. Officials said the high toll was the result of good intelligence data that had allowed the government to bring in reinforcements and prepare for the attacks.

The government said five police officers and soldiers also died.

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 burned and bombs set at Buddhist temples.

But the defense minister, Chetta Thanajaro, said the attacks were carried out by Muslim separatists who may have received training abroad.

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

Violence in the region has intensified 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.

Some analysts say the violence is growing out of the same grievances that led to a separatist rebellion in the 1960's and 70's in the impoverished southern provinces, where many residents feel neglected and repressed in this largely Buddhist nation. Such grievances and the long-simmering rebellion offer clear opportunities for militant recruitment and hard-line mosques have begun to appear.

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

Wednesday's attacks 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!"

Government officials said 17 attackers were taken prisoner.

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

Human rights advocates criticized the police and the military, saying they had used their intelligence data to set a trap and maximize casualties, rather than try 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 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. 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, a 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 attackers.

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.

Wednesday's attacks took place in the Yala, Pattani and Songkhla provinces, 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.