Yala, Thailand News

Energy Minister Pongsak Ruktapongpisal must resign to take responsibility for the blackout in all 14 provinces of the South last Tuesday, according to the majority of respondents in an Abac Poll.

Five soldiers were injured when a roadside bomb sent their truck flying through the air in one of two incidents on Saturday in Narathiwat.

A roadside explosion killed five paramilitary rangers and severely injured another in Pattani yesterday in what was described as a revenge attack by insurgents.

Thai security forces inspect a roadside bomb attack on an armored vehicle in Thailand's restive south.

The hours-long blackout on Tuesday in the strife-torn regions in three southern provinces have had a huge impact on residents who, facing daily insurgent violence, were gripped in the fear of possible terror attacks in the darkness.

Thai soldiers inspect a military vehicle after a roadside bomb attack by suspected separatist militants in Thailand's restive southern province of Narathiwat on May 5, 2013 "Children and women will not be spared," warned the leaflet.

BANGKOK: Thailand's army chief on Wednesday urged teachers in the country's insurgency-racked south to stay at home after 6pm to avoid falling victim to militants as the new school year gets under way.

Bowing to public uproar and opposition from civic groups and critics of a policy to close small-sized government schools, the Education Ministry has agreed to set up a joint committee, which would include representatives from civic organisations, to look into the issue.

A Muslim man was found dead in a hut on a rubber plantation in Yaha district of Yala on Monday morning, police said.

After two rounds of dialogue, it was crystal clear the Thai team needed new strategies and better intra-governmental coordination.

A Supreme Court ruling against a man charged in connection with the southern violence has provoked insurgent prisoners in Pattani to petition against the justice system.

Up to a fortnight ago, the latest "peace process" for southern Thailand that was supposed to trundle along since February was meandering.

PHUKET: Recent talk of establishing a special court to fast-track legal cases involving foreign visitors raises some interesting issues, but at the end of the day is unlikely to result in little more than that: just talk.

An alleged insurgent was shot dead and a soldier was injured in a gunfight in Narathiwat's Rusoh district early yesterday morning, while four closed-circuit TV cameras were torched in Yala's Raman district in a separate incident.

Suspected insurgents set fire to three closed circuit television cameras in Yala's Raman district early Saturday morning, police said.

The government-appointed centre for implementation of policies and strategies to solve problems in the southern border provinces would meet at 2pm on Friday to discuss lifting the law imposed over most of the restive region.

Four police and two civilians were injured by a bomb explosion on the Ban Niang-Yaha road in tambon Niang of Yala's Muang district on Thursday morning, police said.

The surge of attacks in the far South despite the government's peace talks overture to the Barisan Revolusi Nasional is a concern, Defence Minister Sukumpol Suwanatat says.

The superintendent of Pattani's Kapho district police station tried to commit suicide yesterday while he was on his way to see a doctor in Yala's Muang district.

Security officials inspect the wrecked pickup truck of patrolling soldiers after it was hit yesterday morning by a roadside bomb that killed two soldiers and seriously wounded three others in Narathiwat Two soldiers were killed and three others were seriously injured when a roadside bomb went off yesterday in Tambon Taloh of Narathiwat's Reu Soh ... (more)