deep south
- South Thailand News
Songkhla floods wash away bookings in Hat Fai wipeout (video)
Flood chaos in Songkhla and the wider Deep South has left the Malaysian market in tatters, forcing a total wipeout of hotel and tour bookings in Hat Yai for the next two weekends. The relentless downpours have thrown travel plans into disarray, causing a domino effect on local tourism, just as things were heating up. Songchai Mungprasithichai, the head chief…
- South Thailand News
Insurgent threats in deep South as Tak Bai massacre case passes
Security measures have been increased in Thailand’s deep South amidst intelligence reports suggesting insurgent groups are planning to instigate violence from today, October 26, until October 28, following the expiration of the statute of limitations for the Tak Bai massacre case. Reports indicate that these groups aim to incite violence across four provinces to mark the 20th anniversary of the…
- Thailand News
Thailand extends TM6 form suspension to boost tourism
Thailand has extended the suspension of its TM6 immigration forms until April 30 next year, a move that promises to ease cross-border tourism while a new electronic travel authorisation (ETA) system is being developed. Officials say the ETA could also streamline the collection of tourism fees. Tourism and Sports Minister Sorawong Thienthong revealed that the Cabinet approved the decision, which…
- Thailand News
Thai-Malay twin-city initiative to boost southern economic growth
The Thai government announced a collaboration with Malaysia to promote a twin-city concept in the Deep South, aiming to stimulate economic growth and bring peace to the region. Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Phumtham Wechayachai recently chaired a meeting to review the progress of this initiative, which seeks to transform the longstanding conflict zones into thriving trade hubs through…
- South Thailand News
Thailand pushes for violence reduction and public involvement in southern peace talks
Two urgent matters were put forward by Thailand for discussion in endeavours to resolve the southern conflict, as revealed by a source close to the Peace Dialogue Panel. These topics include the reduction of violence and public involvement in the peace negotiation process. Chatchai Bangchuad, the head of the government’s peace panel, is set to advocate for these issues once…
- South Thailand News
Emergency decree against insurgency extended in Deep South
While emergency decrees over the Covid-19 pandemic situation are finally a thing of the past, the continuously troubled Deep South region of Thailand has been operating under an ongoing emergency decree aimed at protecting citizens from the threat of the long-term insurgency constant in the area. The three southern border provinces of Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat, are a buffer between…
- Tourism News
Malaysian tourist influx remains steady despite uncertainty in Thailand’s south
Malaysians are still streaming into Songkhla, despite safety concerns and uncertainties following the recent fireworks warehouse explosion and a car bombing in Narathiwat. The blasts brought ensuing speculation over safety concerns across Thailand’s southernmost provinces. But an average of 10,000 Malaysian tourists each day are visiting Southern Thailand anyway. Songchai Mungprasithichai, spearheading the Songkhla Tourism Promotion Association, expressed that the…
- Crime News
Police carry out an astounding 609 drug raids yesterday
Police went on a raiding rampage yesterday as if they were the drug-fueled ones, not the 319 drug rings they busted in one day. Over 200 people were arrested and drugs worth over 17 million baht were seized in over 600 locations during a series of raids in Thailand’s southern provinces on Monday. The massive coordinated raid efforts were announced…
- South Thailand News
SWAT officers shoot dead suspected insurgent in southern Thailand
Special Weapons and Tactics (S.W.A.T) officers killed a suspected insurgent in a shootout in Yala province, southern Thailand, early this morning. The deceased was suspected to have had a role in the ambush that killed a police officer on Friday, as well as the bombing of a PTT gas station in Than To district. At 4.30am today, a S.W.A.T team…
- Education
Senior Buddhist monk’s visit to Islamic education centre in Thailand’s Deep South sparks uproar
A senior Buddhist monk in Thailand sparked uproar over his visit to an Islamic education centre in the south. The visit to the centre in Narathiwat province in Thailand’s south came with heavy criticism on the second day of the House debate against the Prayut government yesterday morning. According to Thai PBS World, army officials defended the visit by saying it…
- World News
Malaysia’s PM against the use of violence to resolve southern Thailand conflicts
Malaysia’s Prime Minister is making it clear that he is against the use of violence to resolve conflict in southern Thailand. PM Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is meeting with Thailand’s PM Prayut Chan-o-cha at the Government House. He says it ‘was a session for a most serious and frank exchange’ and ‘not just an ordinary diplomatic session.’ “I came here…
- South Thailand News
Railway bomb attack in southern Thailand injures 8 security officers
A bomb attack at a railway in Narathiwat province in southern Thailand yesterday injured eight subdistrict security officers. Officers at Rueso Police Station were informed that subdistrict security officers were injured by an explosion while on duty overseeing the safety of the railway line in the area of Duyae Village, Sao Or subdistrict, Rueso district. Assailants planted improvised explosive devices (IEDs)…
- Bangkok News
Bangkok runs Hidden Temples tour while Deep South restores temples
With so much talk during the pandemic about closing nightlife and the effect on tourism, one might forget that millions of people flock to Thailand to enjoy other facets of the kingdom aside from beaches and parties, booze, and women. Now, various government agencies are coming together to highlight the beautiful architecture and culture of the temples of Thailand. In…
- South Thailand News
Deep South emergency decree extended 3 months
After a recent car bombing of police apartments in the Deep South province of Narathiwat, the Emergency Situation Administration Committee decided to extend the state of emergency decree in the troubled Southern provinces. The extension means that the current state of emergency will not end on December 20 as scheduled, but will instead continue until March 19 at the earliest.…
- South Thailand News
Two petrol stations bombed in southern Thailand
Two petrol stations in Pattani province in southern Thailand were bombed yesterday evening. No one was killed or seriously injured. Police believe the attacks were carried out by insurgents and possibly in retaliation to an incident on November 7 when the police killed an insurgent who bombed a petrol station in Pattani. There were seven warrants out for his arrest…
- South Thailand News
Thai military denies torturing and killing Deep South rebel
The Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) said peace talks with the Thai government will be harmed if they are responsible for the torture and murder of a Deep South rebel whose body was found in the Golok river, on the border of Thailand and Malaysia, last month. The tortured body of 42 year old Zahri Bin Abdullah – also known as…
- South Thailand News
UPDATE: 21 year old man found dead after Deep South bombing
UPDATE Following the bomb explosions in three Deep South provinces on August 16, officers found one man dead inside a 7-Eleven shop in the Su-ngai Golok district of Narathiwas province. Yesterday, officers from the Explosive Ordnance Disposal investigated a 7-Eleven store inside a petrol station that was bombed as part of the attack and found the charred body of a…
- South Thailand News
Insurgents bomb petrol stations & shops in Deep South
Bomb explosions were reported last night at a number of petrol stations and convenience stores in three Deep South provinces including Narathiwat, Yala, and Pattani. The media reported the bomb explosions went off between 12.20am to 12.40am in six districts of Narathiwas provinces. Six branches of 7-Eleven stores, a Mini Big C in Bacho, Si Sakhon, Su-ngai Golok, Rueso, and…
- South Thailand News
Landmines kill 1, injure 10 in Deep South of Thailand
A soldier was killed and ten people were injured after two landmines were detonated at a rubber plantation in the Deep South of Thailand yesterday. Of the ten people injured in the explosion at the rubber plantation in Kok Ko, a village in Narathiwat province, southern Thailand, six were police officers and four were civilians. The injuries to the police…
- Bangkok News
Bangkok film festival urged to avoid deep south torture movies
The Internal Security Operation Command urged Bangkok’s open-air film festival to avoid screening movies or documentaries related to torture in the deep south provinces of Thailand. The military department said the event should only bring happiness and smiles to residents. Bangkok’s open-air film festival, which rolled out the red carpet on July 7 at Laan Kon Mueng space in front…
- South Thailand News
Police investigate whether killing in South Thailand was insurgency related
Police in southern Thailand are investigating whether a recent killing was related to a personal conflict, or the ongoing ‘South Thailand Insurgency’. Officers in Bannang Sata district Yala province found a man’s body in a fruit orchard yesterday. The body, identified as 43 year old Buraheng Roya, was lying near a motorcycle among the fruit trees. The police said Buraheng…
- South Thailand News
Southern Thai man sentenced to almost 5 decades for terrorism and other charges
Southern Thailand doesn’t look like it’s headed towards peace any time soon. In the latest report on violence in the region, a man in Yala province has been sentenced to 46 years in prison yesterday after he was charged with terrorism, criminal association, and violating the firearms and explosives law. The man, along with 8 other people, was found guilty…
- South Thailand News
Suspected insurgent dies in military custody, court rules no foul play
Yesterday, a court in Songkhla province, southern Thailand, ruled that there was no evidence of foul play in the case of a suspected insurgent who fell into a coma and died while being held in military custody in Pattani province in 2019. A suspected leader of an insurgency group accused 34 year old Abdullah Esomuso of being involved with a…
- South Thailand News
Songkhla Muslims against plan for Chinese goddess statue on mountain
In Thailand’s tense Deep South, Muslim communities are speaking out against a plan to build a statue of a Chinese goddess on a mountain in Thepa district. The company planning to build it is TPI Polene Power Plc, a power plant operator. Many in the community around the mountain are Muslims, and an imam, who asked to remain anonymous, said…
- South Thailand News
Prayut orders tight security amidst new Southern bomb attack
In the aftermath of a bombing in Yala province in Southern Thailand, PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has ordered investigators to hunt down the perpetrators. The attack injured four patrolling rangers and two civilians in front of a school in Bannang Sata district. This news comes after a government negotiator announced last month that the Thai government would have peace talks with…
- South Thailand News
Man left with shrapnel wounds after another bomb attack in Thailand’s Deep South
A man was rushed to a hospital with shrapnel wounds on his torso after an attacker threw a bomb next to a security booth last in Yala in Thailand’s Deep South, a region with ongoing violence related to the religious separatist insurgency. Earlier that night, gunmen shot another man on a motorcycle in Bannang Sata, the same district of Yala…
- South Thailand News
Three injured including two bomb squad officers injured in Songkhla’s bomb blast
While investigating the scene in Songkhla’s Chana district where a fisherman lost his leg when he stepped on a bomb buried underground, two explosive ordnance disposal personnel at the investigation site sustained serious injuries when another bomb exploded. They were working near a railway bridge near Ban Na subdistrict under the surveillance of police and soldiers where three militants were killed the…
- South Thailand News
Bomb in Narathiwat explodes, monks and soldiers unharmed
In the Deep South province of Narathiwat bordering on Malaysia, a bomb exploded this morning, with 2 monks and 2 soldiers narrowly escaping harm. The explosion took place early this morning on the side of the road in Rueso district of the province that often sees violence and bombings from local insurgents. As is common for Buddhist monks in Thailand,…
- Crime News
Bomb attack damages vehicles carrying ballot boxes from local election in Yala
A bombing in the Deep South province Yala damaged several vehicles carrying ballot boxes from a local election. After the polls closed on Sunday for the Bannang Sata tambon administration organisation elections, eight vehicles were used to take the ballot boxes to the district office. As the vehicles drove on a rural road at around 7:55pm, a parked motorcycle exploded. A…
- Covid-19 News
Covid-19 falling, even in Deep South, but still dire in Chiang Mai
According to the Ministry of Public Health, the good news is that, throughout Thailand, Covid-19 infection rates are successfully falling. The bad news is that Chiang Mai, traditionally a popular tourist and expat living destination, is a notable exception to the rule, with an increasingly dire situation on the ground there. Infection numbers in the Deep South of Thailand continue…
