Chiang Mai's Astronomy Institute is organising a workshop for students of the three southernmost provinces to learn more about the universe. The workshop will provide opportunities for student members of the Islam Astronomy Centre to enhance their celestial knowledge and develop their skills in using star-gazing equipment, Bunyaraksa Suntho-rntham, director of National Astronomical Research Insti-tute, said yesterday. The southern students can also meet their friends from other regions during the three-day event starting on February 1, she said. Meanwhile Defence Minister Boonrawd Somtas declined to confirm a report that Muslim separatists in the Deep South were backed by the al-Qaeda network. Government spokesman Chaiya Yimwilai implied on Friday that the terrorist group might be the foreign funding source for the insurgency in the region racked by daily violence. "There is no evidence to prove that idea," Somtas said. "They may share ideology, but whether they received the funding or not we aren't sure, as no intelligence has found local insurgents are working with the international terror group." The general was speaking after presiding over the funerals in Kanchanaburi of eight Army officers brutally murdered.