Thai air force jets and helicopters dropped around 100m origami paper cranes over restive Muslim-majority southern Thailand on Sunday, in what may rank as one of the world's most bizarre efforts to quell an ethnic conflict.

Thailand's 63m people, most of whom are Buddhist, have been frenetically folding paper cranes for weeks after Thaksin Shinawatra, prime minister, urged them to make so-called "birds of peace" as a gesture of support for people in Thailand's three southernmost provinces, which have been under martial law since January.