[originaltext] Officials in Thailand say at least 93 people have been killed

Officials in Thailand say at least 93 people have been killed in clashes between security forces and militants who attacked some 15 security posts in three southern provinces pre-dawn Wednesday.
   Thai officials say Wednesday’s attacks occurred simultaneously against police bases, volunteer defense posts and local government offices in the south of the country. They say the attackers, mostly teenagers armed with knives and machetes, were trying to steal weapons---similar to a raid in January on an army barracks in which four soldiers were killed. That incident touched off spates of violence and prompted the Thai government to declare martial law in its three mostly Muslim southern provinces.
   The government says it killed scores of militants in repelling Wednesday’s attacks and suffered low police casualties.
An editor with Thailand% Nation News media group, Thepchai Yong, says security forces have been on high alert for several weeks. "The kind of operation, like what happened this morning, is something that they had anticipated to a certain degree," he says.