Filed at 6:44 a.m. ET

PATTANI, Thailand (AP) -- Thailand's leader shrugged off international criticism of his government's crackdown on suspected Islamic militants, saying in speech to the nation Saturday that he had no choice but to use overwhelming force.

More than 100 suspected militants -- mostly young men wielding machetes -- were killed Wednesday when they attacked police and army posts in pre-dawn raids in three southern provinces. Three police and two soldiers were also killed.

On Friday, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights demanded that Thailand investigate the killings, citing treaties that require security forces to refrain from using excessive force.

International and local human rights groups have also called for investigations.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra responded with defiance.

``Please don't intervene. Please leave us alone,'' he said in a radio address Saturday.

``It is my job and we can cope with this matter. We are trying to explain this to foreigners. But if they do not understand or ignore our explanation, I don't care because we are not begging them for food,'' Thaksin said.

Thaksin initially blamed drug traffickers and organized crime but the government now says it suspects the attacks were the work of Islamic separatists.

Police said they found Arabic-language pamphlets calling for the creation of a Muslim homeland on some of the militants' bodies.

The same area has seen numerous attacks on government targets in recent months, though on a smaller scale.

Most of Thailand's 63 million people are Buddhist, but the southern provinces near Malaysia have Muslim majorities. A separatist movement flourished there for years, but faded after a government amnesty in the 1980s.

The Bangkok Post newspaper, quoting an unidentified source, reported Saturday that some of the militants were members of the al-Qaida linked Jemaah Islamiyah regional terror group. It did not elaborate and the report could not be independently verified.

The violence began earlier this year with the torching of several schools and a raid on an army arsenal in which four soldiers were killed. The attacks, usually by armed men on motorcycles, have left 97 people dead, including Buddhist civilians.

``We could not tolerate that any longer,'' Thaksin said.

Thaksin also defended his security forces, saying they had no choice but to used the massive force to kill the militiamen.

``They stormed security outpost with fire arms, bombs and knives and machetes. They meant to rob guns and weapons,'' Thaksin said.

``The security forces could not sit idle and wait for the attackers to kill them,'' he said.