The Thaiger
Southern Thailand’s 22-year insurgency: why the conflict continues and who BRN is
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The conflict in southern Thailand is the country’s longest-running armed confrontation. Since January 2004, more than 23,000 incidents have been recorded across the three southern border provinces of Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat, along with four districts of Songkhla: Chana, Thepha, Na Thawi, and Saba Yoi.
Key facts
- The roots go back much further than 2004
- January 4, 2004: the day the current conflict began
- 22 years of military operations, negotiations, and stalled talks
- The conflict in southern Thailand is the country’s longest-running armed confrontation
- The violence takes many forms: ambushes, bombings, arson attacks, and assaults on security checkpoints
- That changed on the morning of January 4, 2004.
Summary
The conflict in southern Thailand is the country’s longest-running armed confrontation. Since January 2004, more than 23,000 incidents have been recorded across the three southern border provinces of Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat, along with four districts of Songkhla: Chana, Thepha, Na Thawi, and Saba Yoi.
The violence takes many forms: ambushes, bombings, arson attacks, and assaults on security checkpoints. Victims include soldiers, police, teachers, monks, and civilians from both Buddhist and Muslim communities.
The three southern border provinces were historically part of the Patani Sultanate, a Malay Muslim kingdom with its own language, religion, and culture. Siam absorbed the territory in the early twentieth century through administrative reforms and the 1909 Anglo-Siamese Treaty with Britain, which drew the border between Siam and British Malaya.