Thai civil war

Gerald Walker at Sobaka reports on the hidden civil war of Thailand.

Authorities in Thailand are still assessing the death toll from the latest round of violence in the majority-Muslim south. The latest figures have eight killed and as many as 25 seriously wounded in bombings and targeted assassinations.

The violence has been ongoing for the last 20 months, since a shadowing group believed to have trained in some of the rebel camps of Burma announced their jihad in Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani provinces, two of which are the only Muslim-majority areas in Thailand. Their declaration in January 2004 was preceded by unprecedented riots, looting and arson attacks against government targets and local officials. The Thai military - long bulked up by American armaments but fighting a true enemy for the first time - claims that some 900 people have died since the jihad began, making it the most active if relatively obscure civil war in Asia.