Thai insurgents extend their reach
http://atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/SEA-01-100114.html
Thai insurgents extend their reach
By Anthony Davis
Jan 10, '14
BANGKOK - In retrospect the days before Christmas 2013 marked an ominous turning point in the struggle for the border provinces of southern Thailand. On December 22, attacks involving motorcycle and car bombs struck the border district of Sadao in Songkhla province, wounding 27. They were followed shortly after by the discovery and disarming of a second car bomb on the resort island of Phuket.
To the relief of many Thai security officials, these events were largely overshadowed by political turmoil in Bangkok and received only cursory attention in the local media. But the conclusion to be drawn was plain enough: after 10 years of escalating attacks Malay Muslim separatists are now moving beyond their traditional area of operations.
That this comes against the backdrop of a failed southern peace process and a fast deteriorating political situation in the rest of Thailand only compounds concerns.
The attacks in Sadao marked the first time any major violence had occurred in the district since the beginning of the insurgency in January 2004. The first motorcycle bomb exploded close to a check-point near the police station of Padang Besar, some 10 kilometers southwest of Sadao district center where the railway from Thailand crosses into Malaysia.