CHANAE, Thailand\u2014Security guard Ni-arfan Doloh was taking a routine photograph for his nightly report on Saturday when five masked men carrying \u200crifles emerged from inside a government office in Thailand\u2019s southern Narathiwat province.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was shocked,\u201d said Ni-arfan, \u206025, recalling how they led him and another \u2060guard behind the Chang Phueak sub-district office, instructed them to sit with their hands behind their backs, and promised no harm would come to them.<\/p>\n
The masked men then set fire to the \u2060building, one of at least 78 incidents in a coordinated wave of arson, bombings and other attacks across four provinces in Thailand\u2019s insurgency-hit deep south last weekend, injuring three people.<\/p>\n
No group has claimed responsibility, as is the case with most attacks in the predominantly Muslim and ethnic Malay provinces bordering Malaysia, where \u200ca slow-burning insurgency waged by separatist movements has \u2060killed more than 7,800 people since violence flared in 2004.<\/p>\n
Confined mostly to Thailand\u2019s deep south, the \u200bviolence has rarely intruded into the idyllic beaches and glimmering temples that make the country one of the world\u2019s top destinations for millions of tourists each year.<\/p>\n
But it has long shaped life in these rural provinces, dotted with rubber plantations and fishing communities, and the recent spate of attacks has heightened fear and mistrust, even as Bangkok seeks to revive peace talks.<\/p>\n
The latest targets included government buildings, businesses and convenience stores, vehicles and utility poles, while an explosion damaged railway tracks and disrupted train services.<\/p>\n
CONTROVERSIAL SHOOTING<\/p>\n
Two hours after the office was torched, Solae Doloh and his three friends were riding back home from a camping trip along a nearby road when they suddenly came under fire.<\/p>\n
Solae said he was hit in the stomach by gunfire that appeared to come from a military helicopter circling overhead – an account backed by another witness and a village headman who was in the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cI stopped my motorcycle and lifted both my \u2060arms,\u201d said Solae, 21, speaking \u200bwith a bandage over \u200bhis stomach.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey shot us in the first round but didn\u2019t \u200chit anyone. After we went on, they came around to the front and shot at us again.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Thai military has vehemently denied that its troops fired from \u200cthe helicopter. A regional commander told reporters that the aircraft was surveying the area.<\/p>\n
Village headman Nuseng Lateh, 61, said he recognized the group as \u200bthey passed by the burning office before the shooting, adding that they had previously gone through a security checkpoint, where no weapons had been found on them.<\/p>\n
Police are investigating the shooting, and local lawmakers and community representatives have also called for an independent inquiry to determine how \u2060Solae was shot.<\/p>\n
\u201cDeep down, I hope we will receive justice but I\u2019m afraid they will accuse us of being insurgents,\u201d said Hasan Toema, 27, one of Solae\u2019s friends.<\/p>\n
Despite living through repeated bouts of violence, the shooting has deepened a sense of insecurity among some residents, including \u2060Solae\u2019s older brother, Matohae Doalo.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to go out anywhere alone,\u201d the 27-year-old said. \u201cThis happened to my brother, so I am afraid it will happen to me, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
VIOLENCE OVER DECADES<\/p>\n
Since the middle of the last century, separatist groups have fought against the Thai government in three predominantly Malay-Muslim provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat that were once part of the independent Malay sultanate of Patani.<\/p>\n
Peace talks between the Thai government and insurgent groups to end one of Southeast Asia\u2019s long-running conflicts began under Malaysian facilitation in 2013 but have repeatedly stalled, yielding little tangible progress.<\/p>\n
The weekend attacks came as Thailand sought to revive talks with the Barisan Revolusi Nasional, the main separatist group fighting in the region.<\/p>\n
Bangkok\u2019s chief negotiator Thanut Suvarnananda told Reuters this month that the Thai government wanted to move beyond trading concessions for reducing violence and instead address underlying political grievances.<\/p>\n
Thanut declined to comment and the BRN did not respond to questions from Reuters.<\/p>\n
In a previous round of violence \u2060on July 22, \u200bwhen suspected insurgents killed five paramilitary rangers and wounded six civilians, 10-year-old Habib was playing outside his home, next to a military checkpoint.<\/p>\n
A stray bullet during an exchange of fire passed through his leg, fortunately without striking any major arteries or bones, but covered his limb in \u200cblood, his mother, Na, said.<\/p>\n
More than a month later, Habib becomes anxious \u200bwhen he sees soldiers \u200bor large groups of people and struggles to sleep, said Na, giving only one name.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel frightened by what happened,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI worry about how we are supposed to continue living because incidents occur every \u200cday.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHANAE, Thailand\u2014Security guard Ni-arfan Doloh was taking a routine photograph for his nightly report on Saturday when five…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":828536,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[99960,8768,99959,4,450,451,3471,3,452,453],"class_list":["post-828535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-around-asia","tag-asahi-shimbun","tag-asia-world","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-headlines","tag-japan","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=828535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/828536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=828535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=828535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=828535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}