PATTANI, THAILAND // Experts have warned of reprisal attacks after Thai marines killed 16 militants who attacked their base, as violence deepens in the Muslim-majority districts of southern Thailand.
About 50 militants swarmed the outpost in Bacho district of Narathiwat province early yesterday morning, wearing combat uniforms and armed with assault weapons.
But a tip-off of a possible attack had already reached the base, said Colonel Pramote Promin, spokesman for the army's southern command. The 30 marines were on high alert when the assault came, and suffered no casualties.
It was the worst setback for the insurgents since more than 100 died in a single day in 2004, including 34 who were killed by police at the Kreu-Sae mosque in Pattani province.
Since it resumed in 2001, the separatist insurgency in Thailand's three southern-most provinces has claimed more than 5,000 lives. Barely a day passes without news of an attack on government workers, police, civilians or some of the 60,000 soldiers stationed here.
Annexed by Thailand (then Siam) in 1909, this region is home to Malay-Muslims, whose distinct language and culture means they have long chafed under the rule of Buddhist-dominated Thai governments. An armed independence movement first emerged in the 1960s, but the latest wave has been the most violent.
Lately, the militants have grown increasingly professional and daring. They have launched several attacks on military outposts since early 2011, always catching the military off-guard. But the failure of yesterday's attack may indicate they have over-reached.
"The insurgents were lulled into a false sense of security because their last six or seven operations have been largely successful - they thought they could keep ratcheting up the pressure," said Anthony Davies, a Bangkok-based analyst for IHS Jane's, who is an expert on the southern conflict.
"This failure will really hit them hard. I will be hugely surprised if they attempt another major operation on this kind of hard target in the next few months."
The result is likely to be increased attacks on soft targets, such as Buddhist civilians, Mr Davies said. Teachers are frequently targeted, because they are thought to represent state authority and attempts to subvert local culture through Thai-centric education programmes. Human Rights Watch says 157 have been killed since 2004.
There were hopes in the past year that the violence was waning, with militants claiming they would halt attacks on civilians.
But the assassination in November of a respected local imam, Abdullateh Todir, has triggered another round of tit-for-tat violence. It is widely believed that he was killed by a military death-squad, who felt he was too close to the militants. The insurgents have responded with a number of attacks on civilian and military targets, including a twin attack on Sunday in which roadside bombs killed five soldiers.
In recent years, successive governments have poured money into the region and opened secret dialogues with militant leaders in a bid to contain the insurgency.
But its shadowy nature makes it hard to find a solution. The leaders have never published a clear political agenda, and much of the violence is thought to be motivated by criminal motives or personal vendettas. Nor is clear who commands the fighters on the ground. A range of exiled groups claim they still have control over the movement, but many analysts believe the current crop of militants acts largely on its own.
"The exiled leaders are part of the previous generation," said Don Pathan, a local journalist who has closely studied the conflict and interviewed many insurgents. "Now the movement is too fluid for anyone to control. You get one guy who calls himself president but there are two more who say the same thing. That makes it very difficult for the government to negotiate."
Following the bombings on Sunday, the government of prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra said it was considering a long-term curfew, clamping down on all night-time movement in the south. A vote will be taken tomorrow, with legislators divided on the issue.
"The latest attack will encourage those who want to push for a curfew. After all, you had truckloads of armed men driving through the region without getting stopped," said Mr Davies. "But a curfew angers the civilians and provides effective propaganda to the insurgents. And it requires the sort of effective patrolling and local intelligence which the Thai military has not exhibited in the past."
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Tewellah by Nawal Zoghbi is out now.
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hall of shame
SUNDERLAND 2002-03
No one has ended a Premier League season quite like Sunderland. They lost each of their final 15 games, taking no points after January. They ended up with 19 in total, sacking managers Peter Reid and Howard Wilkinson and losing 3-1 to Charlton when they scored three own goals in eight minutes.
SUNDERLAND 2005-06
Until Derby came along, Sunderland’s total of 15 points was the Premier League’s record low. They made it until May and their final home game before winning at the Stadium of Light while they lost a joint record 29 of their 38 league games.
HUDDERSFIELD 2018-19
Joined Derby as the only team to be relegated in March. No striker scored until January, while only two players got more assists than goalkeeper Jonas Lossl. The mid-season appointment Jan Siewert was to end his time as Huddersfield manager with a 5.3 per cent win rate.
ASTON VILLA 2015-16
Perhaps the most inexplicably bad season, considering they signed Idrissa Gueye and Adama Traore and still only got 17 points. Villa won their first league game, but none of the next 19. They ended an abominable campaign by taking one point from the last 39 available.
FULHAM 2018-19
Terrible in different ways. Fulham’s total of 26 points is not among the lowest ever but they contrived to get relegated after spending over £100 million (Dh457m) in the transfer market. Much of it went on defenders but they only kept two clean sheets in their first 33 games.
LA LIGA: Sporting Gijon, 13 points in 1997-98.
BUNDESLIGA: Tasmania Berlin, 10 points in 1965-66
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The bio
Job: Coder, website designer and chief executive, Trinet solutions
School: Year 8 pupil at Elite English School in Abu Hail, Deira
Role Models: Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk
Dream City: San Francisco
Hometown: Dubai
City of birth: Thiruvilla, Kerala
The biog
Prefers vegetables and fish to meat and would choose salad over pizza
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France is her favourite country to visit
Has written books and manuals on women’s education, first aid and health for the family
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Fathiya Nadhari's instructions to her children was to give back to the country
The children worked as young volunteers in social, education and health campaigns
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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'Young girls thinking of big ideas'
Words come easy for aspiring writer Afra Al Muhairb. The business side of books, on the other hand, is entirely foreign to the 16-year-old Emirati. So, she followed her father’s advice and enroled in the Abu Dhabi Education Council’s summer entrepreneurship course at Abu Dhabi University hoping to pick up a few new skills.
“Most of us have this dream of opening a business,” said Afra, referring to her peers are “young girls thinking of big ideas.”
In the three-week class, pupils are challenged to come up with a business and develop an operational and marketing plan to support their idea. But, the learning goes far beyond sales and branding, said teacher Sonia Elhaj.
“It’s not only about starting up a business, it’s all the meta skills that goes with it -- building self confidence, communication,” said Ms Elhaj. “It’s a way to coach them and to harness ideas and to allow them to be creative. They are really hungry to do this and be heard. They are so happy to be actually doing something, to be engaged in creating something new, not only sitting and listening and getting new information and new knowledge. Now they are applying that knowledge.”
Afra’s team decided to focus their business idea on a restaurant modelled after the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Each level would have a different international cuisine and all the meat would be halal. The pupils thought of this after discussing a common problem they face when travelling abroad.
“Sometimes we find the struggle of finding halal food, so we just eat fish and cheese, so it’s hard for us to spend 20 days with fish and cheese,” said Afra. “So we made this tower so every person who comes – from Africa, from America – they will find the right food to eat.”
rpennington@thenational.ae
The alternatives
• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.
• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.
• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.
• 2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.
• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases - but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.
The biog
Name: Younis Al Balooshi
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Expert input
If you had all the money in the world, what’s the one sneaker you would buy or create?
“There are a few shoes that have ‘grail’ status for me. But the one I have always wanted is the Nike x Patta x Parra Air Max 1 - Cherrywood. To get a pair in my size brand new is would cost me between Dh8,000 and Dh 10,000.” Jack Brett
“If I had all the money, I would approach Nike and ask them to do my own Air Force 1, that’s one of my dreams.” Yaseen Benchouche
“There’s nothing out there yet that I’d pay an insane amount for, but I’d love to create my own shoe with Tinker Hatfield and Jordan.” Joshua Cox
“I think I’d buy a defunct footwear brand; I’d like the challenge of reinterpreting a brand’s history and changing options.” Kris Balerite
“I’d stir up a creative collaboration with designers Martin Margiela of the mixed patchwork sneakers, and Yohji Yamamoto.” Hussain Moloobhoy
“If I had all the money in the world, I’d live somewhere where I’d never have to wear shoes again.” Raj Malhotra
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
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MATCH INFO
Newcastle United 1 (Carroll 82')
Leicester City 2 (Maddison 55', Tielemans 72')
Man of the match James Maddison (Leicester)
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'Outclassed in Kuwait'
Taleb Alrefai,
HBKU Press
