Thailand
Renewed attacks by Islamist insurgents have taken place despite stepped-up security measures
Students hold white balloons during a demonstration against violence in Ra-ngae district in the southern Thai province of Narathiwat on March 21 after clashes between Thai Army rangers and separatists. (Photo: AFP)
A separatist Islamist insurgency in southern Thailand’s Muslim-majority provinces appears to have ratcheted up attacks against security forces in a blow to ongoing reconciliation efforts.
In one of the latest attacks by suspected insurgents, four Thai Army rangers were injured on March 26 in the province of Narathiwat when a remotely activated roadside bomb exploded as two pickup trucks with eight rangers in all passed by on their way back to their base.
One of the rangers suffered a serious injury while another three were lightly wounded in the attack.
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The attack came days after another four rangers were injured in Pattani, a neighboring Muslim-majority province, when a bomb placed beside an irrigation canal was exploded as they were on their way to repair a faulty water pump near their base.
One of the soldiers was severely injured and the other three suffered less serious wounds.
A few days prior to that, another four rangers and two civilians were injured in Yala, another Muslim-majority province with an active separatist movement, when a bomb exploded in front of a school.
Recently Thailand’s military-allied government, which has promised but failed to pacify the restive region, has relaunched on-and-off negotiations with representatives of separatists with the help of Malaysian mediators
These attacks have taken place despite stepped-up security measures, indicating that loosely connected cells of suspected Islamist militants can continue to stage bomb attacks in all of Thailand’s southernmost Muslim-majority provinces with predominantly ethnic Malay populations.
Since the insurgency erupted in violence in 2004, more than 7,000 people, both Muslims and Buddhists, have died in violent attacks by insurgents and reprisals by security forces.
Recently Thailand’s military-allied government, which has promised but failed to pacify the restive region, has relaunched on-and-off negotiations with representatives of separatists with the help of Malaysian mediators.
However, the ongoing attacks by suspected Islamist insurgents against security forces have dampened hopes that a political resolution might soon be in sight to the long-running conflict.
Last month Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, a former army chief, met with his Malaysian counterpart, Ismail Sabri Yaakob, to discuss bilateral issues, including possible ways to end the simmering conflict in Thailand’s three southernmost provinces that border Malaysia.
In a joint statement, the two prime ministers said their countries remained committed to finding a peaceful solution to the conflict and promoting economic development in Thailand’s Muslim-majority provinces to improve the livelihoods of local residents.
The three provinces, which are home to ethnic Malays, are among Thailand’s poorest and least developed regions with the low-level insurgency there having isolated it from the rest of Thailand for nearly two decades.
Many ethnic Malays do not feel they belong to Buddhist Thailand and a shadowy separatist movement, which seeks to gain independence for the restive region, enjoys widespread support among locals, according to analysts.
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