September 7, 2011:
Islamic terror attacks in the south have declined, but the scope and violence of the attacks have increased. In August there were 90 incidents, which left 53 dead. This included 13 security personnel (two police officers, three soldiers and eight local defense volunteers), two teachers (a main target for the Islamic terrorists) and a government official. The rest of the victims were civilians (mostly Moslem) and terrorists.
There are larger bombs being used, and more car bombs. There are fewer Islamic terrorists, but those still involved are more skilled and better financed and led. The criminal gangs appear to be still subsidizing the violence, but the terrorists themselves are inspired by the ever-popular Islamic radical concept of a war between Islam and the infidels (non-Moslems.) The Islamic groups involved say little in public. All that is known is that the goal is the establishment of an Islamic religious dictatorship in the three Moslem provinces in the south. Thailand will not allow that, and most Moslems in the south appear to oppose this as well. What the southern Moslems do want is more economic development, and the Islamic terrorists are attacking those efforts as well.
September 6, 2011: In the south, three attacks left three dead and five wounded.
September 5, 2011: A court sentenced three men (a Cambodian, a Vietnamese and a Thai) to up to three years in prison for espionage and drug smuggling. The three were arrested on the Cambodian border three months ago.
September 1, 2011: The government and Cambodia have agreed to negotiate a dispute over oil and natural gas in the Gulf of Thailand.
August 26, 2011: In the south, a bomb was used to kill five local defense volunteers and Islamic terrorists also shot a rubber tapper.
August 24, 2011: In the south, about thirty Islamic terrorists attacked the local defense volunteers in a Moslem village, killing two civilians and wounding six. The army sent reinforcements, and four soldiers were wounded. The terrorists got away, and their casualties are not known. The Islamic terrorists are concentrating more and more of their efforts on intimidating Moslem groups that oppose them.