close
Friday May 10, 2024

Four civil defence volunteers gunned down at school in southern Thailand

By AFP
January 11, 2019

PATTANI, Thailand: Four Thai civil defence volunteers were gunned down Thursday at a school in the kingdom´s south with students just metres away, as bloodshed greets the 15th year of an insurgency in the Malay-Muslim border zone. The culturally distinct region that borders Malaysia has seen rebels fight against the rule of Buddhist-majority Thailand, which annexed the area over a hundred years ago. Since 2004, armed insurgents have clashed with Thailand´s powerful military, killing nearly 7,000 people — mostly civilians — both Muslims and Buddhists. The death toll dropped to a record low last year as Thailand´s junta tightened its security web in the south. But recent weeks have seen an uptick in violence, as rebels show they remain able to carry out operations after 15 years of conflict.