Five Thai security personnel have been killed and six civilians injured — among them a three-year-old girl and a ten-year-old boy — following a violent assault on a roadside checkpoint in Thailand’s troubled deep south, the military announced Thursday.
According to the military’s Internal Security Operations Command Region 4, approximately ten attackers dressed in black clothing and black brimmed hats arrived at the checkpoint in Narathiwat province late Wednesday evening, traveling by pickup truck and motorcycle. The assailants opened fire with military-grade firearms and deployed pipe bombs in the assault.
All five of those killed were paramilitary rangers. Before fleeing, the attackers took three AK-47 rifles, three bulletproof vests, and several mobile phones from the checkpoint. Security forces later located the pickup truck used in the raid abandoned and on fire, roughly 21 kilometers — about 13 miles — from where the attack took place.
No group immediately stepped forward to claim responsibility for the assault, which is typical of attacks in Thailand’s deep south.
The Thai government condemned the incident as an act of terrorism. Government spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek said in a statement that the attack posed “a serious threat to national security” and was undermining ongoing efforts to restart the peace process.
Thailand’s southern border region, which runs along the frontier with Malaysia, has been gripped by a slow-burning insurgency for decades. Armed groups there have long sought independence for the predominantly Muslim, ethnically Malay provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, and portions of Songkhla. The area was once part of an independent Malay sultanate before being annexed by Siam through a 1909 treaty with Britain.
The current phase of the conflict began in 2004 and has since claimed more than 7,800 lives, according to the conflict monitoring organization Deep South Watch.
Peace negotiations between the Thai government and various insurgent factions launched in 2013 with Malaysia serving as a facilitator, but the talks have repeatedly hit dead ends with little meaningful progress to show.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has expressed a commitment to restarting negotiations with the primary insurgent group, the Barisan Revolusi Nasional, following the appointment of a new chief negotiator in April. However, formal talks have not yet resumed.
Earlier this month, the Barisan Revolusi Nasional issued an unusual public statement saying that dialogue remained the only realistic way to resolve the conflict and acknowledged Malaysia’s continued role as a peace facilitator.
