Thailand’s southernmost provinces were struck by more than 50 coordinated arson attacks, bombings and armed raids overnight Saturday, the military said, wounding at least three people in the latest flare-up in a decades-long separatist insurgency.
The army’s Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) said 51 incidents occurred across Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani provinces between roughly 8 p.m. and midnight, describing them as coordinated attacks aimed at creating unrest. Narathiwat bore the brunt with 22 attacks, followed by 18 in Yala and 11 in Pattani, according to local media citing ISOC.
The attacks included bombings, arson, road ambushes, vehicle theft and shootings. Assailants set fire to a subdistrict government office, a convenience store and a stolen vehicle, burned tires in roadways, and torched power poles, telecommunications towers and surveillance cameras. Caltrops were scattered across several roads, and additional bombs later struck electricity poles and railway infrastructure. In Narathiwat, a roadside bomb wounded two women and a man, all of whom were hospitalized in stable condition. Authorities imposed an overnight curfew in Narathiwat that was lifted Sunday morning, and no further attacks were reported that day.
No group has claimed responsibility. Thai security officials believe the campaign may be linked to the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), the main separatist group behind the long-running insurgency, with some officials suggesting the group’s leadership operates from neighboring Malaysia — an assertion Malaysian authorities have denied. Malaysia has stepped up border security in its northeastern Kelantan state, though no cross-border incursions were reported.
Since 2004, a low-level insurgency has simmered in Thailand’s Muslim-majority southern border provinces, where separatist fighters have sought greater autonomy from the Buddhist-majority country. More than 7,000 people have been killed in the conflict, according to monitoring groups. Peace talks between Thai authorities and the BRN, restarted earlier this year after a lengthy hiatus, have faced repeated disruptions from periodic attacks.
