Shooting in Thailand’s south kills four despite safety zone deal-police

Insurgents in one of Thailand’s mostly Muslim southern provinces shot and killed four people, including a child, and wounded another two children on Thursday, police said, days after a deal was reached with the Thai government to establish a safety zone. A decades-old separatist insurgency in the Muslim-majority southern provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat has claimed more than 6,500 lives since it escalated in 2004, according to independent monitoring group Deep South Watch.

Wanted Thai Muslim leader suspected of inspiring militant attacks

More than a decade ago, Sapae-ing Basor was one of Thailand’s most wanted, his face plastered on posters around the south offering 10 million baht, more than US$250,000, for his capture. But when the spiritual leader of many Muslims in insurgency-torn southern Thailand died at 81 in self-imposed exile in Malaysia January 10, it wasn’t just thousands of his followers mourning in mos… More than a decade ago, Sapae-ing Basor was one of Thailand’s most wanted, his face plastered on posters around the south offering 10 million baht, more than US$250,000, for his capture.