More than 20 years later, law enforcement authorities have yet to identify or implicate those responsible for that 2004 raid. Regardless of who they were, the 2004 raid marked the beginning of systematic sabotage efforts by militant and separatist groups in the Deep South -- Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and parts of Songkhla. Over the past 22 years, 12 governments under 10 prime ministers have attempted, with limited success, to extinguish the violence in the Deep South. As the country prepares to form a new government, a serious question arises: what will it do about the violence in the Deep South? Decades after the Jan 4 arms robbery, one conclusion is clear -- force alone is not a sustainable solution.

Source: Bangkok Post January 07, 2026 01:30 UTC