Five Killed, Dozens Wounded in Violence in Thailand’s Restive South

Five people were killed and more than a dozen others were wounded in two separate attacks in Thailand’s southern provinces, which have been experiencing violence since 2004.

The first attack was on a Saturday night outside the district office in Sungai Kolok, which is a Malaysian-Thai border town. The attackers were more than 10, and they fired guns, threw explosives, and exploded bombs. Two defence volunteers who were on duty at the office died, and 12 others, four of them civilians, were injured.

Evening also saw the explosion of a roadside bomb in the nearby province of Pattani that killed three people. Two were local village assistants and a ranger. One person was also injured in the blast.

The Muslim-dominated area has been plagued by violence for years as insurgents desire more independence from the Thai government. Prime Minister Paethongtarn Shinawatra on Sunday said that more security personnel would be deployed to work night shifts in the provinces of the south following the attacks.