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Bangkok Post
Bangkok Post
National

Thailand seeks new path to end deadly southern insurgency, negotiator says

An explosion overturns a car carrying paramilitary rangers from the 11th Paramilitary Regiment Task Force in Waeng district, Narathiwat province, in May 2026. The blast killed one ranger and injured two others. (Photo: Narathiwat Public Relations Office)

Thailand is ready to shift its approach to a slow-burn insurgency ‌in its Muslim-majority deep south and revitalise a peace process, Bangkok's chief negotiator said, as violence simmers in one of Southeast Asia's longest-running conflicts.

Any such move could mark a return to addressing the political roots of a conflict that has killed more than 7,800 people since 2004, when the latest round of the insurgency led mainly by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) flared in Thailand's southernmost provinces, bordering Malaysia. In the latest violence in the ​region, five security personnel were killed in an attack ⁠last month.

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