A July attack on a security checkpoint in Thailand's Narathiwat province killed five members of the security forces and wounded six civilians, including a 10-year-old boy, in the latest flare-up of the decades-old insurgency in the country's far south. More than 50 coordinated attacks followed in August, mainly targeting infrastructure, and no group claimed responsibility.
Habib Hinah, 10, spent two weeks in hospital after a bullet pierced the back of his leg during the July assault, which involved guns and pipe bombs. Speaking in August at his home, where the walls still carry bullet holes, he said: "I'm not scared." Habib was among six civilians injured in the attack. The five security personnel killed were members of the paramilitary Thai Rangers force, which operates under army command; two of them were Muslims. Habib's mother, Susana Kotanyong, said the troops had been stationed near their home for years and had become like "cousins" to the family. "When there was bad flooding last year, they helped us before they helped themselves," she said.
No group has officially claimed responsibility for the July attack or the August sabotage, which targeted government offices, telecommunications towers and railways. The largest armed group in the region is the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), which fights for the region's independence. The BRN is relatively decentralized, with much of its leadership based in Malaysia and many local units operating on their own. Smaller insurgent groups sometimes cooperate with it. The BRN maintains that it desires Shariah law for Muslim matters in the region.
The insurgency's roots lie in imperial history. Siam seized the Patani Sultanate in 1786, and a 1909 treaty confirmed Thai control over most of Patani, now divided into Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and parts of Songkhla. Aggressive nation-building under Siam and later Thailand was largely rejected in the deep south, where ethnic Malay Muslims make up roughly 80 percent of the population. After an earlier separatist push faded in the 1980s, the BRN rebuilt and relaunched the insurgency with a violent escalation in 2004, around the same time that a power struggle between then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the military weakened control over the region.
Srisompob Jitpiromsri, head of conflict monitor Deep South Watch and a lecturer at Prince of Songkla University, said neither side showed much restraint at first. Human Rights Watch recorded nearly 2,400 deaths in the first three and a half years of the conflict, nearly 2,200 of them civilians. The state's crackdown was swift: in October 2004, security forces violently dispersed a protest in Narathiwat, fatally shooting seven people and stuffing hundreds into police vans, where another 78 died. Thailand's three southernmost provinces have been under martial law or emergency decree since 2004. Human Rights Watch reports at least 23 Buddhist monks and novices have been killed since 2004, and the military has been accused of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and torture. In 2007, a volunteer village defense force shot and killed four young Muslim protesters.
Peace talks between the BRN and the Thai military began in 2013, and Jitpiromsri, who took part as a mediator, credited them with a noticeable drop in violence by 2014. But after years without breakthroughs, violence crept up again. "The peace dialogue didn't have any tangible effects or results," he said. "Just meeting and talk, talk."
Deep South Watch figures show the conflict ebbed in 2020, with 116 deaths and 161 injuries from 335 violent incidents. By 2025, the number of casualties had risen to 523 from 608 incidents. Today, the insurgency focuses primarily on security targets, though they may be in public places, like the checkpoint in Habib's village. Jitpiromsri says there appears to be a "ceiling" to the level of violence the BRN is willing to use, aiming to pressure the government without provoking an extreme response. The August infrastructure attacks reportedly caused no deaths, an indication of that strategy.
Many residents now fear further escalation under a new pro-military government. The conservative Bhumjaithai Party won February elections on a wave of surging nationalism after conflict along Thailand's eastern border with Cambodia. On Aug. 3, unknown assailants threw a bomb at a soldiers' camp on a Buddhist pagoda compound in Pattani province, though no troops were present. The head monk, Toh Waey, known for promoting interfaith harmony, said he thought the attack was launched by people who wanted to cause problems between Muslims and Buddhists. At the pagoda in August, a Muslim teacher and her students met Toh Waey, who also received a delegation of Buddhist and Muslim civil society leaders and insisted they sit together on the same bench.
Analysis
Why This Matters
- The renewed violence threatens civilians and security personnel in a region that has been under martial law or emergency decree for more than two decades.
- With peace talks failing to produce results, there is no clear path toward resolving an insurgency that has killed thousands since 2004.
- Attacks on infrastructure and on a Buddhist pagoda risk deepening communal tensions between Muslim and Buddhist residents.
Background
The conflict dates to the 1786 seizure of the Patani Sultanate by Siam and a 1909 treaty that kept most of the territory under Thai control. Aggressive nation-building in the 20th century was rejected in the deep south, where ethnic Malay Muslims make up about 80 percent of the population. After an earlier separatist campaign faded, the BRN relaunched the insurgency in 2004, and the region has been under martial law or emergency rule ever since. The BRN, the largest armed group, is decentralized, with leadership based in Malaysia and field commanders in Thailand.
Key Perspectives
BRN: Fights for the region's independence and maintains it desires Shariah law for Muslim matters in the region.
Srisompob Jitpiromsri: Says the peace dialogue had no tangible effects and that the BRN appears to operate within a "ceiling" of violence it is willing to use.
Toh Waey: Says the Aug. 3 bombing at his pagoda compound was launched by people who wanted to cause problems between Muslims and Buddhists.
What to Watch
- Whether the Bhumjaithai-led government changes course on peace talks or escalates the security response in the deep south.
- Whether attacks continue to target infrastructure while avoiding mass casualties, signalling that the BRN is maintaining its self-imposed "ceiling" on violence.
- Whether interfaith outreach efforts, such as those led by Toh Waey, can limit communal tensions after attacks on religious sites.
Checked
12 claims in this story checked against 1 source: 9 supported.
Show each claim
- SupportedViolence flared again in Thailand’s deep south as peace talks stalled.Foreign Policy: “All of this is part of an increase in violence in Buddhist-majority Thailand’s far south, where ethnic Malay Muslims make up roughly 80 percent of the population and talks between the government and Islamist separatists have failed to resolve a decadeslong insurgency.”
- SupportedThe July checkpoint attack killed five security-force members and wounded six civilians, including 10-year-old Habib.Foreign Policy: “Habib was among six civilians injured in a July attack on a security checkpoint that also killed five members of the Thai security forces in Narathiwat province.”
- SupportedMore than 50 coordinated attacks followed in August, mainly targeting infrastructure.Foreign Policy: “That incident—involving both guns and pipe bombs—was followed in August by more than 50 coordinated attacks, mainly targeting infrastructure, such as government offices, telecommunications towers, and railways.”
- Partly supportedNo group claimed responsibility for the July attack or August raids.Foreign Policy: “No group officially claimed responsibility for the deadly July attack or the August sabotage.”
- SupportedHabib said, “I'm not scared.”Foreign Policy: ““I’m not scared,” Habib insisted in August during an interview in his home, where the walls were pockmarked with bullet holes.”
- SupportedHabib’s mother said troops stationed near their home became like “cousins” to the family.Foreign Policy: “Habib’s mother, Susana Kotanyong, said the slain troops had been stationed near their home for many years, becoming like “cousins” to them.”
- SupportedHabib’s mother said, “When there was bad flooding last year, they helped us before they helped themselves.”Foreign Policy: ““When there was bad flooding last year, they helped us before they helped themselves,” she said.”
- SupportedJitpiromsri said, “The peace dialogue didn’t have any tangible effects or results,” and, “Just meeting and talk, talk.”Foreign Policy: ““The peace dialogue didn’t have any tangible effects or results,” Jitpiromsri said. “Just meeting and talk, talk.””
- SupportedDeep South Watch figures show 116 deaths and 161 injuries from 335 incidents in 2020, rising to 523 casualties from 608 incidents by 2025.Foreign Policy: “According to Deep South Watch, the conflict in southern Thailand ebbed in 2020, with 116 deaths and 161 injuries from 335 violent incidents. By 2025, these figures had increased again to 523 casualties from 608 incidents.”
- Partly supportedThe August infrastructure attacks reportedly caused no deaths, indicating the BRN’s strategy.Foreign Policy: “The coordinated attacks on infrastructure in August were perhaps in an indication of that strategy. Despite the soldiers’ deaths in July, the subsequent attacks reportedly resulted in no deaths.”
- Partly supportedAggressive nation-building under Siam and later Thailand was largely rejected in the deep south.Foreign Policy: “This process floundered in the deep south, where Thai cultural norms rooted in Buddhism were largely rejected.”
- SupportedJitpiromsri said there appeared to be a “ceiling” to the violence the BRN was willing to use.Foreign Policy: “There appears to be a “ceiling” to the level of violence the BRN is willing to use, Jitpiromsri said.”