Eighteen people have been injured in Thailand’s southern province of Yala in a string of bomb attacks by suspected Muslim insurgents upset at recent measures to rein in separatist violence, the Thai army said yesterday.
More than 6,500 people, most of them civilians, have died in separatist violence in southern Thailand since 2004, when resistance to Buddhist rule flared up.
RESISTANCE
Thailand is predominantly Buddhist, but parts of the south, particularly the three provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, are majority Muslim, and resistance to central government rule has existed there for decades.
Fourteen bombs went off on Thursday night, regional security spokesman Colonel Pramote Prom-in said.
They were followed by three more in the early hours of yesterday, he added.
HOSPITALIZED
The latest explosions in the provincial capital of Muang Yala, injured 18 people, five of whom remained in hospital, said Pramote, who is attached to Thailand’s Region 4 Internal Security Operations Command.
“Altogether, there were 17 explosions in Yala,” he told reporters.
The military government that has ruled Thailand since a coup in May last year says it has adopted new strategies, including DNA swabbing, in a bid to curb the insurgency.
‘PROVOCATION’
Last month, it said there was a drop of 50 percent in attacks by Muslim Malay rebels in the restive region.
However, lawyers and activists say the forced DNA sweeps are further alienating people in the area.
The explosions were meant as a message to the Thailand government from the insurgents, Pramote said.
“These attacks were intended to provoke,” he said.
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