A video posted on YouTube making death threats against former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is a fake and was made by members of the anti-government white-mask group, National Security Council secretary-general Paradorn Pattanatabut said on Sunday.
"The people who made the video clip are nothing more than a group of people who want to bring down Thaksin," Lt Gen Paradorn said. "When the video was uploaded, the white-mask people posted it on their Facebook pages and were having a good time criticising Thaksin."
He said problems in Thailand's three southern border provinces are not caused by al-Qaeda or Thaksin alone, but by problems inside the Thai state, in relation to the movement of the Malayu people.
The security chief said the execution of the video was not very good when compared to other videos made by the al-Qaeda terrorist group.
"The people who shot this video just hired people who look like Arabs and can speak Arabic to carry guns and stand in front of the camera. This is not a difficult job.
"Just by listening to the speakers in the video, they don't have the conviction of the al-Qaeda group," Lt Gen Paradorn said.
The Information and Communication Technology Ministry (ICT) will investigate the origin of the video, he said, although the people who shot it were probably careful to cover their tracks. If it was done in Thailand they would certainly be arrested, Lt Gen Paradorn added.
A screen shot from the alleged al-Qaeda video threatening former PM Thaksin Shinawatra.
Noppadon Pattama, Thaksin's legal adviser, wrote on his Facebook page that his boss is feeling fine after he was informed about the video claiming to be an al-Qaeda threat against him.
According to Mr Noppadon, the deposed premier was unconcerned about the video in which three men in Arab-style clothing threatened to kill him.
"Thaksin spends most of his time in the Middle East and has many good friends who are Muslims and have good intentions," Mr Noppadon wrote.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who is Thaksin's youngest sister, declined to answer reporters' questions about the death threat video.
The two-minute, 45-second video is entitled "Al-Qaeda video against former Thailand Prime Minister".
The English language commentary included threats to kill Thaksin, "to avenge the killing of Muslims in the South in 2004". It referred to the killings at Tak Bai district town while Thaksin was premier. "You have killed our Muslim brothers in Tak Bai, south Thailand," the video stated.
"We will get you any time, anywhere in the world," said the speaker.
There was no other context provided in the video. The first upload to YouTube was removed after a few hours with the notice: "This video has been removed as a violation of YouTube's policy on violence".
It appeared again from a different uploader several hours after that.
The second upload of the video also was removed.
But the anti-Thaksin posters played tag with YouTube. Early Sunday, a third version of the video was also posted on YouTube, with a Thai-language soundtrack played over the original. It also was taken down by YouTube after a short time.
Southern militants have denied any connections with al-Qaeda or similar foreign terrorist groups.