Analyzing the Thai South: While General Sonthi Cries about his Lost Satellites, Terrorism in Deep South Rages On

Trends in the Thai Insurgency: Early 2007

Counter Terrorism Blog

Wednesday morning saw an audacious bombing that appeared to target the beloved Crown Princess of Thailand, Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, who is visiting Thailand’s restive southern provinces. The bomb was placed near her helicopter’s landing pad. A security patrol that was sweeping the area, discovered the cell-phone detonated IED. The bomb was not a large one, compared to what has been detonated recently. Detonated in a controlled manner, it created a crater a yard in diameter and 12 inches deep.

While Bangkok is still abuzz over whodunit over the New Year’s Eve bombings, the southern insurgency continues to escalate. The level of killing has gone up to over two people a day, minor by Iraqi standards, but still the most lethal conflict in Southeast Asia, bar none; and it has the potential to grow dramatically in 2007.

It is not necessary to detail all the daily pillion killings and bombings, but it is worth recounting some of the more significant acts violence in 2007. The Minister of Defence, Boonrod Somthat glumly noted that the Barisan Revolusi Nasional-Coordinasi (BRN-C) "has refused negotiations so far as it is gaining the upper hand and winning greater support from local residents."

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Dimming Peace Prospects in the Deep South

Asia Times

The hope that the military rulers of Thailand, headed by a Muslim, would bring a fresh and successful approach to the insurgency in the south is rapidly waning. Since prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted, the conflict has intensified, not subsided. - Shawn W Crispin (Feb 15, '07)

In need of help to douse the flames Feb 15th 2007 | BANGKOK

The Economist

Malaysia has offered help to tackle the violent separatist insurgency on their mutual border. But no end to the violence is in sight.

BOMBINGS, shootings or, more recently, al-Qaeda-style beheadings now happen almost every day in Thailand's southern provinces. Bloodthirsty but strangely publicity-shy separatists attack symbols of Buddhist Thailand's rule over a region whose people are mostly Muslim and ethnic-Malay. Teachers and monks, not just soldiers and police, are targets now. Muslims are also regularly murdered, either in revenge for killings of Buddhists or because the militants suspect them of collaborating with the authorities.

In the most gruesome incident of recent days, an elderly Buddhist man was beheaded in Pattani province on February 8th. His head was later found in a roadside plastic bag. A note reportedly left near his corpse said it was revenge for a grenade attack on a Muslim tea-shop. The conflict has risen and subsided several times since Thailand annexed the region, formerly a Malay sultanate, in 1902. Violence surged again in 2004, since when around 2,000 people have been killed.

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