Attacks in Thailand’s south kill five, wound 13, police say

BANGKOK: Five people were killed and more than a dozen wounded in two attacks in Thailand’s troubled south, police said on Sunday.

A low-level conflict has simmered in Thailand’s southernmost provinces since 2004, killing more than 7,000 people, as rebels in the Muslim-majority region battle for greater autonomy.

A group of more than 10 assailants opened fire outside the district office of Sungai Kolok, a town on the Malaysia-Thailand border, at around 7:00 pm Saturday (1200 GMT), provincial police said.

They also threw explosives and detonated bombs in an attack that killed two defence volunteers guarding the office and wounded 12 others, including four civilians, Narathiwat province police said.

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In a separate attack in the neighbouring province of Pattani on Saturday night, a roadside bomb killed three people, including two local village assistants and a ranger guarding the area.

One person was also wounded in the incident, which occurred at around 11:00 pm (1600 GMT) in Saiburi district, local police said.

Thailand’s deep south is culturally distinct from the rest of Buddhist-majority Thailand, which took control of the region more than a century ago.

The area is heavily policed by Thai security forces.

Thai Prime Minister Paethongtarn Shinawatra told reporters on Sunday that the number of security forces in the south working night shifts “would definitely need to increase” in the wake of the attacks.