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Inside Thailand's southern insurgency
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| 14 September 2006 |
Inside Thailand's southern insurgency
The ethnic Malay separatist movement has shown considerable resilience in the face of a heavy security force presence and widespread arrests. Daily assassinations and bombings have shaken confidence in the security forces, prompting many Buddhists to leave the region and intimidating Muslims opposed to the revolt into acquiescence. At the same time, reports suggest that recruitment and training continue to expand insurgent ranks and senior Royal Thai Police (RTP) and Royal Thai Army (RTA) officers expect the violence to escalate further.
The decentralised and highly compartmentalised nature of the insurgency has been apparent since it gathered pace in 2004. Since then information gleaned from incidents, arrests and interrogations has helped shed some light on the workings of a separatist movement that has done its best to cloak its activities in secrecy.
Three main militant factions have been identified as: National Revolutionary Front - Co-ordinate (Barisan Revolusi Nasional - Koordinasi: BRN-K); Islamic Mujahideen Movement of Patani (Gerakan Mujahideen Islam Patani: GMIP); and the Patani United Liberation Organisation (PULO). With an extensive grassroots network supported by many Islamic clerics and teachers, BRN-K has emerged as the largest group and constitutes the core of the insurgency, according to a range of Thai military, police and civil officials. The other two parties, smaller and traditionally more focused on military rather than political activity, have coalesced around it in a loose operational alliance.
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© 2006 Jane's Information Group
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