Behind the Insurgent Attack in Southern Thailand

NEW Q&A FROM CRISIS GROUP

Behind the Insurgent Attack in Southern Thailand

On the night of 5 November, at least twenty gunmen attacked a security checkpoint in Lam Phaya sub-district in Yala, Thailand’s southernmost province, killing fifteen people and wounding four others.

Ethnic Malay Muslim militants have been fighting the state for decades in the Muslim-majority south of Thailand, which otherwise is mostly Buddhist. However, the past several years have seen a decline in the pace and intensity of violence. It remains to be seen whether this attack was an aberration or sign of renewed insurgent potency. 

In this Q&A, Crisis Group’s South East Asia Senior Analyst, Matt Wheeler, details what happened and explains what it means for the stagnant peace-dialogue process.

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