Thai rebels sidelined from peace talks yesterday claimed responsibility for deadly bombings in the country’s Muslim-majority deep south that broke a Ramadan holiday agreed between the main rebel group and the government.
The two explosions on Friday, which killed a civilian and injured three police officers, were carried out by “G5,” a militant group of the Patani United Liberation Organization (PULO), said the group’s president, Kasturi Mahkota.
More than 7,300 people have been killed since 2004 in the fighting between the Thai government and shadowy groups seeking independence for the Malay-Muslim provinces of Narathiwat, Yala, Pattani and parts of Songkhla. The area was part of the Patani Sultanate, which Thailand annexed in a 1909 treaty with the UK.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Mahkota said by telephone that the blasts in Pattani province represented “business as usual” for his group, which was excluded from talks between the government and the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) rebel group, which agreed two weeks ago to stop violence during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan through May 14.
A spokesman for the Thai security forces in the area, Colonel Kiatisak Neewong, said that a group not included in the peace talks was likely responsible for the bombings, aimed at disrupting the Ramadan truce.
He did not explicitly name PULO.
The Thai team at the peace talks and the BRN declined to comment.
“The talks are not inclusive enough and it is going too fast,” said Kasturi, whose group objects to the agreement that would exclude the possibility of independence from Buddhist-majority Thailand.
The talks seek a political solution to the decades-long conflict under the framework of the Thai constitution.
The talks have been frequently disrupted since beginning in 2013. The latest round started in 2019.
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