MUSLIM HATE IN THAILAND

Thai prime minister meets security chiefs after coordinated attacks in 3 southern provinces

GRANT PECK
Updated Sun, August 23, 2026

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand 's Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, already facing a flood crisis in the country's north, held an urgent meeting on Sunday with high-level security officials in response to coordinated violence overnight in three southern provinces where a small-scale Muslim insurgency is active.

The meeting, held shortly before Anutin flew north to inspect the badly flooded province of Nan, followed 51 incidents on Saturday night in the southernmost provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala.

The attackers did not engage with military or police forces. Only three civilians were known to have been wounded, and they were reported to be recovering on Sunday.

The violence primarily involved small bombs, arson and other forms of property damage. The highest-profile target was a 7-Eleven convenience store in Pattani. A video circulating on social media appeared to show armed men stalking outside the store while customers and workers fled before it was set on fire.

A bomb that damaged rail tracks in Narathiwat forced the suspension of local and long-haul services. It was not clear when they would be restored due to the uncertain security situation.

As has often been the case with such incidents, no group was immediately publicly blamed or claimed responsibility for the actions.

However, such attacks are generally believed to be carried out by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional Melayu Patani, or BRN. It is the major insurgent group in the south with the organizational means and support to stage such an action. It is also the group with which the Thai government has been holding on-again, off-again peace talks.

The three southernmost provinces are the only ones with Muslim majorities in predominantly Buddhist Thailand and the BRN has said that it is seeking self-rule for them.

Muslim residents have long complained of being treated like second-class citizens in Thailand, and separatist movements have been periodically active for decades.

Insurgent violence escalated sharply in 2004 and was met with heavy-handed crackdowns, further fueling discontent. According to Deep South Watch, a think tank based at the Prince of Songkla University's campus in Pattani, 7,837 people have died in the violence in the past 22 years.

The last major flare-up came in July, when about 10 attackers opened fire and threw pipe bombs at soldiers at a security checkpoint in Narathiwat. Five paramilitary soldiers were killed and six civilians were wounded, including a 10-year-old boy.

Don Pathan, an independent security analyst, says the BRN carries out attacks largely for leverage as it negotiates with the Thai government.

"From the ground, BRN combatants are turned off by the boasting of military officials and wanted to use the spike in violence to demonstrate their capabilities," said Pathan. "Many of the targets in these latest incidents were civilians, but BRN combatants were not after body counts. They want to send a stern message to the Thais of what they are capable of doing."


Officer killed in gunfight at Islamic school in Pattani Thailand, one militant shot dead

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2025
The Nation

An officer was killed and a militant shot dead in a gunfight during a security raid at an Islamic school in Sai Buri, Pattani. Authorities have heightened security at all outposts to prevent retaliation.

An officer was killed and a militant shot dead during an armed clash at an Islamic school in Sai Buri district of Pattani province on Wednesday afternoon (October 15).

At around 3pm, a joint security team launched a raid to search the premises of a ponoh (Islamic boarding school) in Sai Buri after receiving intelligence reports that part of the compound was being used as a physical training ground and hideout for insurgents.

Authorities arrested a 29-year-old suspect, identified as Surhapichee, and seized a firearm during the operation. However, as officers continued to sweep the area, community leaders were asked to negotiate with the armed group to persuade them to surrender, but the militants opened fire with assault weapons, injuring one officer.

Security forces returned fire in self-defence, killing one militant. The injured officer, identified as Pol Snr Sgt Maj Somsak Naksen, head of the EOD unit of Border Patrol Police Company 444, was rushed to Sai Buri Crown Prince Hospital but later succumbed to his wounds.

Teachers In South Fear For Their Safety
By D. Arul Rajoo
May 15, 2006

BANGKOK, May 15 (Bernama) -- Thousands of students and teachers in Thailand return to school Monday after a long holiday but educators in the restive southern provinces continue to fear for their lives.

Since violence erupted in January, 2004, 49 teachers died while 55 others were injured, mostly due to gunshots or became victims of bomb blasts carried out by suspected militants fighting for independence for the Muslim-majority Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani provinces.

Last week, two female teachers were killed along with a soldier and 16 other people injured in a bomb attack just 200 metres away from a private school in Pattani. In February, teachers at 250 primary schools in Yala refused to go to work for one week because of fears for their safety after five colleagues were shot dead in a single day.

So far, more than 1,200 have died in violence in the three provinces.

According to official figures, there are 11,267 teachers teaching more than 291,300 students in 861 schools in the three provinces.

Although teachers were escorted to and from schools by security forces in many parts of the border provinces, they have been targeted by Muslim separatists, and many have been gunned down while travelling alone as dozens of Buddhist teachers became the main target.

Early this year, about 300 villagers held 32 teachers hostage in a school until the authorities released the local imam who was detained for questioning over a bucket of petrol and some trekking equipment found in his residence during a military sweep of his village in Narathiwat's Joh I Rong district, one of the hotspots in the violence prone South.

Although the teachers were released unharmed, it heightened the risk of being taken by teachers serving in the region.

"Despite that, we are not willing to have soldiers inside our compound. It will make things worse. So, we are having more meetings with the local people to ensure such things don't happen anymore," said Rin Khonshuduang, the school's principal.

Three weeks before the new school term, the Southern Border Provinces Peace-Building Command, a multi-agency body responsible for overseeing security in the region, called for a meeting with security and education officials to plan for security measures for schools and teachers.

Yesterday, Education Minister Chaturon Chaisang visited the southern provinces and met with teachers to provide them with morale support and assure them security measures were being provided by the government.

So far, there were no reports of attack on teachers when school resumed today as security was tight, with thousands of soldiers and policemen patrolling the streets and guarding schools.

This year, officials are planning to train more than 900 Narathiwat teachers on how to use weapons, self-defence and negotiating with offenders.

But not all teachers were willing to undergo such courses due to fear that they could become target by militants.

Director of Narathiwat Education Office Area 2, Adul Promsaeng said although many teachers are still living in fear, they have to take the risk as they could not run away from their responsibility.

"When school opens, we have to go back to school as long as we remain as teachers," he said.

Yala Education Office Director, Adinan Pakbara said cooperation between security forces and the local people were important in ensuring the safety of teachers.

"The villages must come forward and help to protect teachers as their children's future depends on teachers.

Authorities should also cooperate more with the local community," he said.

Last year, more 1,200 teachers asked to be transferred from the restive provinces but no figures were provided this year.
 
Thailand closes 100 schools after teacher hostage crisis
Bangkok, AFP
Last Friday, some 500 angry villagers burst into an elementary school in Narathiwat and took 11 teachers hostage, demanding the release of suspected insurgents in exchange.
Thailand today temporarily closed some 100 schools in its restive Muslim-majority provinces, after a hostage crisis in an elementary school last week left a teacher critically injured.

Phairat Sangthong, the education chief in Narathiwat province, said the schools would remain closed all week.

"Teachers can't bear the dangers they are facing. They don't believe they have any security," Phairat said.


Narathiwat is the most violent of the three mainly Muslim provinces along Thailand's southern border with Malaysia, where a two-year insurgency has left more than 1,200 people dead.
Last Friday, some 500 angry villagers burst into an elementary school there and took 11 teachers hostage, demanding the release of suspected insurgents in exchange.
Security forces rescued the hostages three hours later, but a 26-year-old Buddhist teacher suffered severe head injuries that left her in a coma.
Phairat said teachers in the province were angry because security forces took two hours to get to the school.
"By then, most of the teachers had already been released thanks to negotiations between the village chief and the hostage-takers," Phairat said.
Most of the victims of the insurgency in the south are civilians. Teachers are frequently targeted because they are seen as imposing Thai Buddhist culture on a region that is predominantly Muslim and ethnic Malay.
The region was an independent sultanate until Thailand annexed it a century ago. Separatist violence has simmered ever since.

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