March and April witness further violent attacks
March and April have witnessed a continuation of violence in the three Southern Border Provinces (SBP) in Thailand. With March seeing a higher number of fatalities, official records show that twenty-three people were killed, in comparison to seventeen in April, in the conflict which has been ongoing now for nearly a decade. Furthermore, injuries sustained from attacks rose from eighteen in March, to forty-eight in April, largely due to one of the most destructive attacks witnessed during the conflict. Four bombs were detonated simultaneously on Sunday 6 April, and another four the next day on 7 April, in Muang Yala’s commercial district, which resulted in one death and at least twenty-eight injuries. Furthermore, a bomb attack on 25 April in Pattani killed three people and injured seventeen. The bomb was detonated in Sai Buri district, near to where an annual fishing competition was being held.
Efforts at the peace keeping progress between the government and the insurgent groups have largely stalled in recent months, buried beneath the more recent political turmoil in Bangkok, and many see an inability and unwillingness of the caretaker government to press on with the dialogue. A seminar focusing on the peace process was held in Malaysia’s Kedah state on 2 April, which was attended by one- hundred people including representatives of three insurgent groups – Pattani United Liberation Organisation (PULO), the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), and the Barisan Islam Pembebasan Pattani, with Malaysia’s peace talks facilitator, Ahmad Zamzamin, leading the discussion. Zamzamin said he will continue with the peace process and negotiations, believing that if both sides decide to meaningfully cooperate, they could continue, but this will require a higher level of trust by both parties.
Civilians fall victim to large-scale attack
The statistics of the past two months for which group have sustained the most injury and death differs in regards to the previous months, due to the bombs detonated in Yala’s commercial district on the 6 and 7 of April. The bombs targeted the commercial district of Yala, with the objective assumed to be to cause damage to the local economy, of which many of the Thai Buddhists rely on. The attacks mainly targeted large Thai Buddhist-ran wholesale and retail outlets, resulting in millions of baht worth in damage and affecting the supply chain for products in the South. Due to the indiscriminate nature of these bomb attacks, civilians were affected the most.
The majority of attacks carried out by insurgents tend to target specific people or groups who are involved in peacekeeping
activities, such as local administration workers, the military, police, and local defense volunteers. Police represent 13% of victims these past two months, while military represent 8%, and local administration 6%. At least two teachers have been killed – a group who are increasingly being targeted by insurgents as a ‘symbol’ of the Thai state. Figures also show that 84% of victims have been male, and 16% female. Furthermore, four children (8%) have also fallen victim of attacks in recent months, with a six year old boy shot and killed on 17 April in Bannang Sata district, along with his father, a suspected insurgent wanted by the police on various counts. Police are still investigating the cause of the attack. In another incident, a two year old girl was shot and killed along with her Aunt and Uncle, also in Banning Sata, when their car was attacked by suspected insurgents on 20 April. Their twelve year old nephew was also injured in the attack.
Gun attacks most frequent
Guns have been the most frequently used weapon in the Southern conflict in March and April, and pose the highest risk of fatalities, with thirty-six deaths recorded by this means in the past two months. Most of the gun attacks took place in the morning between 6am and noon, and at night between 7pm and midnight, with victims often being targeted whilst in a vehicle or on a motorcycle.
In the attack on 6 April the twenty-eight injuries and one fatality were caused by a powerful bomb planted in a parked, stolen pick-up truck, on Siroros Road, Muang Yala. The vehicle bomb caused destruction to a large area, damaging houses, shops and vehicles. The following day on 7 April, Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were planted in four different locations including a 7/11 shop, a groceries warehouse, and Yala’s Office of Non-formal and Informal Education. The explosons were all small but caused damage to the buildings and the equipment/goods inside of them. In the attack on 25 April in Pattani, an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was detonated, killing three and injuring seventeen others. The
IED, hidden in a cooking gas cylinder, was home-made, and hidden under a bench where it was set off remotely.
Deaths/Injuries by Province
March and April saw no recorded insurgency-related attacks in Songkhla, and attacks in Narathiwat were fewer than in the previous months of this year. Narathiwat witnessed fifteen casualties in March and three in April, and Pattani sixteen in March and twenty-three in April (resulting from just two separate attacks). Yala witnessed ten casualties in March and thirty-nine in April, resulting from a number of separate attacks, the largest of which was on 6 April.
There are numerous insurgent groups active in these provinces, and while they lack a sufficient common goal or shared strategy, they all reject the authority of the Thai government and its failure to accommodate the needs of the ethnic Malay Muslims of the South, who constitute around 1.8 million of the population. Education has been stated as a large concern, with insurgents claiming it acts as a tool for Thai Buddhist rule over the Muslims and threatens their cultural identity, in addition to the failure of the government to develop this region economically. The largest core actor in the insurgent group is the Barisan Revolusi Nasional-Coordinate (BRN-C), which was founded in the 1960s and has several groups working under its umbrella. Some of these groups have been involved in peace negotiations, but few results have been achieved thus far.
To download the full report with charts please click this link: Southern Security Report March-April
For further information on the insurgency-related attacks, please consult the incident map on the HDFF homepage.