Four people died, killed by Thai security forces in an attack in the southern region last month. The government says they are Muslim rebels, but the investigation team said that they were innocent civilians.
Thailand, which is predominantly Buddhist, has been fighting the insurgency in the southern region are predominantly Muslims for decades. But the news about the turmoil in the south has been buried by the political turmoil in Bangkok for at least the last ten years.
Four were killed on 25 March when security forces stormed a village in Pattani, one of three Muslim-dominated provinces bordering Malaysia, as part of an operation to capture the rebels.
The military said two of those killed were members of Runda Kumpulan Kecil, a Muslim rebel group based in the south.
But independent Islamic Central Committee in Pattani denied that the four men were rebels.
"Those who died was not the instigator of violence and weapons were found that did not belong to them," said Waedueramae Mamingi, chairman of the committee and members of the investigation team told reporters.
"They are not members of extremist groups," he said, adding that the legal action against the security forces could be done.
Insurgency in southern Thailand has killed more than 6,000 people since January 2004 when a group of militant resistance to the central government re-sticking.
Colonel Banpot Phupian, spokesman for the Internal Security Operations Command, the military, told Reuters that the military could not immediately comment on the findings of the investigation team.
The investigation team called for legal action against those responsible.
"State action has caused damage and greatly impact on the society, therefore all officials involved should be prosecuted in accordance with the judicial process," the team said in a statement.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who came to power after a military coup last year, pledged to create peace in the south as a national priority, but has not made much progress.
The government has repeatedly tried to extinguish the flames of rebellion in the south, but no one has succeeded.
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