South Thailand insurgency

Reference: wikipedia 

South Thailand insurgency

The South Thailand Insurgency is an ethnic separatist insurgency taking place in Southern Thailand, predominantly in the Malay Pattani region, made up of the four southernmost provinces of Thailand. In Thailand it is known simply asUnrest in southern Thailand (Thai: ความไม่สงบในชายแดนภาคใต้ของประเทศไทย). The former Sultanate of Patani was conquered by the Thais in 1785 and has been governed by them ever since. Thai ownership was confirmed by the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909. Although low level separatist violence has occurred in the region for decades, the campaign escalated in 2004, occasionally spilling over into other provinces.^[5]

In July 2005, Thaksin Shinawatra, then Prime Minister of Thailand, assumed wide-ranging emergency powers to deal with the insurgency. In September 2006, Army Commander Sonthi Boonyaratkalin was granted an extraordinary increase in executive powers to combat the unrest.^[6]

Soon afterwards, on 19 September 2006, Sonthi and a military junta ousted Thaksin in a coup. Despite conciliatory gestures from the junta, the insurgency continued and intensified. The death toll, 1,400 at the time of the coup, increased to 2,579 by mid-September 2007.^[7]

Despite little progress in curbing the violence, the junta declared that security was improving and that peace would come to the region by 2008.^[8] The death toll surpassed 3,000 in March 2008.^[9] During the Democrat-led government ofAbhisit Vejjajiva, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya noted a "sense of optimism" and said that he was confident of bringing peace into the region within 2010.^[10]By the end of 2010, insurgency-related violence had increased, confounding the government's optimism.^[11] Finally in March 2011, the government conceded that violence was increasing and could not be solved in a few months.^[12

Attacks after 2001 concentrated on installations of the police and military, schools and other symbols of Thai authority in the region were burned. Local police officers of all ranks and government officials were the primary targets of seemingly random assassinations, with 19 policemen killed and 50 incidents related to the insurgency in the three provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat by the end of 2001.^[33]

While earlier attacks were typified by drive-by shootings in which patrolling policemen were shot by gunmen on passing motorcycles, this quickly escalated to well coordinated attacks on police establishments, with police stations and outposts ambushed by well-armed groups who subsequently flee with stolen arms and ammunition. In 2002, 75 insurgency-linked attacks amounted to 50 deaths among police and army personnel. In 2003, officials counted 119 incidents. The mounting scale and sophistication of the insurgency eventually prompted the government into a recognition that there was a serious issue in the southern provinces.

On January 4, 2004, unidentified gunmen raided an army ammunition depot in Narathiwat Province in the early morning, and made off with over 400 rifles and other ammunition. All four senior noncomissioned officers guarding the depot were murdered, with then Prime MinisterThaksin Shinawatra famously saying they deserved to die for being careless. This quickly led to large scale violence, with insurgents killing 600 people in a series of bombings and shootings aimed mainly at the police and the military, but also killing many civilians. Some bombings were directed at non-Muslim residents of the area, leading to an exodus that has damaged the regional economy and increased its isolation from the rest of Thailand.

Thai response to the insurgency was hampered by a lack of training in counter-insurgency methods, a lack of understanding of local culture, and rivalries between the police and the army. Many local policemen are allegedly involved in the local drug trade and other criminal activities, and army commanders from Bangkok treat them with disdain. The army responded to the attacks with heavy-handed raids to search Muslim villages, which only resulted in reprisals. Insurgents provoked the inexperienced Thai government into disproportionate responses, generating sympathy among the Muslim populace.

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Pages in category "South Thailand insurgency"

The following 35 pages are in this category, out of 35 total.

1 13 schools torched in southern Thailand 17 hurt in southern Thailand blasts, schools closed 2 21 dead in south Thailand attacks 4 40 injured after attacks in Thailand A Anniversary of Tak Bai incident marked with lawsuits B Blasts rock Thai polling stations Bomb blasts hit south Thailand market town Sungai Golok Bomb tossed at southern Thailand hotel; victim of Sunday blast dies F Five soldiers killed in Southern Thailand Four killed, dozens injured in southern Thailand bombings I Insurgency targeting of teachers causes south Thailand school closures Insurgent attack in South Thailand injures 24

I cont. Insurgents kill monk and burn temple in south Thailand Islamic insurgents kill three in Thailand M More troops for southern Thailand troubles N Narathiwat raid recovers stolen weapons O One killed, 28 injured in south Thailand bombing P Police officer killed, at least 18 injured in south Thailand blasts S Seven soldiers killed in southern Thailand ambush South Thailand election reruns hit by violence South Thailand insurgents blamed for five bombs T Thai civil rights lawyer Somchai Neelapaichit presumed dead Thai forces on alert for second anniversary of Narathiwat armoury raids Thai Government rejects amnesty proposal for southern insurgents

T cont. Thai Muslim separatists kill & behead man in presence of blindfolded daughter Thai PM promises action on suspected militants Thai Prime Minister to consider lifting martial law Thailand forces registration of prepaid phones to thwart insurgency Third of Thais vote 'none of the above' Three detained for Thai marine deaths W Wikinews Shorts: June 11, 2007 Wikinews Shorts: June 14, 2007 Wikinews Shorts: June 17, 2007 Wikinews Shorts: June 6, 2007 Wikinews Shorts: June 9, 2007

Wednesday, February 8, 2006 Islamist assassinations of teachers causes Thailand school closures 250 primary schools in Yala province were closed as teachers were afraid to go to work. The three southernmost provinces have problems in ensuring adequate educational cover as many teachers in the violence-torn area have sought transfers elsewhere in the country. Four teachers at Ban Lue Mu school in Yala were shot waiting for a military escort, and a fifth teacher was shot on his way home.