Thai Military Makes Claims; Thai Islamists Make Casualties

The Thai government said that they'd be able to crush the insurgency and bring peace to Southern Thailand in 2008.

The violence has claimed nearly 2,700 people in the southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, and some parts of neighboring Songkhla, since a long-simmering Islamic separatist insurgency flared up in January 2004.

"The security force is confident that we can bring the situation under control now," Akara told The Associated Press. "Since we have a clearer picture of the hardcore insurgents and can limit their movements, the situation will gradually improve and we will bring peace to the region in 2008."

The upbeat assessment comes less than a week after insurgents launched a brazen New Year's Eve attack on the Thai-Malaysian border town of Sungai Kolok. Five bombs exploded in the town's hotel and night life district, wounding 27 people, many of them New Year's revelers.

The Islamists have continued to attack throughout Southern Thailand and there's no sign of a letup. They attacked again today, killing one, and wounding two. Thai soldiers clashed once again with the Islamists, and two Islamists were killed.

Two insurgents and a soldier were wounded in a clash in Thailand's southernmost Yala province on Saturday morning, after suspected insurgents shot dead a local resident and wounded two during gun and bomb attacks late Friday.

According to local police, the shooting took place when insurgents ambushed patrol soldiers in Yala's Bannang Sata district. They exchanged gunfires for about 10 minutes before the insurgents fled the scene.

A 23-year-old soldier was shot in his right leg and two insurgents were also injured during the fire exchange, local news network The Nation reported.

On Friday night, a 43-year-old villager was killed in a drive-by shooting near a mosque in Yala, where two security officials were also wounded in a bomb attack.

There is no sign that the Thai military is in a position to crush the insurgency or bring peace to Southern Thailand. There's no sign that they're blocking the border between Thailand and Malaysia, which is a significant source of resupply for the Islamists. Unless they take steps to seal that border, the insurgency will continue.