But on Thursday the army hit back with a psychological warfare of their own, distributing leaflets tossed down from helicopters aimed at putting the government in positive light.

They called the insurgent's method "unethical" and even accused them of disguising themselves as officials. Witten in both Thai and Malay, the army leaflets asked the parents to keep a close watch on the activities on their children and to have faith in the state.

Meanwhile, other officials pointed to the recent surfaced leaflets that have been distributed in remote villages by insurgents. These leaflets called on the Malay Muslims to shun the government on religious ground.

One flyer that surfaced recently in Krong Pinang district of Yala had a heading that stated: "Who are we going to live with", and compared the Thai authorities as "Satan in human disguised".  

It urged the Malay Muslims in the region not to believe anything from the authorities and slammed the re-establishment of the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre (SBPAC) and its security wing, Civilian-Police-Military 43 (CPM 43), as "a way to split the Muslim community".

It described the Malay-speaking region as a "conflict zone" that is "no different from Palestine, Afghanistan, etc…"

"This land must be separated between Muslims and the non-believers. This land must be liberated and must an Islamic system must be its foundation. This land is not the land of the Thais but the land of Fathoni Darulsalam," said the flyer, using the Arabic pronunciation of the historically Malay land of Patani region.

Other flyers that surfaced in Narathiwat's Sisakorn district called on Muslims not to buy up or benefit financially from lands abandoned by Thai Buddhists, saying these plots would be reserved for the underprivileged Malays once the Patani region is liberated from the occupying Siamese.

The flyers came amid an exodus of some 200 Buddhists who are currently taking refuge in a temple in Yala. Many are hoping that the government would purchase the land from them and come up with a resettlement scheme outside of the Malay-speaking south.

Authorities blamed much of the ongoing violence on a new generation of village-based militants who so far have refused to surface and take claims for the daily attacks and roadside bombings.

They said the militants have effectively shattered the fabric of society, creating mistrust between the local population, especially between the Buddhist and Muslim villagers.

More than 1,800 people, mostly Muslims, have been killed since January 2004 because of the ongoing violence between security forces and the militants, commonly referred to as juwae, or fighters in local Malay dialect.

Muslims killed by the insurgents are often suspected of collaborating with the authorities. In one letter delivered to the wife of a victim, the militants said they had no choice but to kill the husband because he was "spying on them for the authorities".

Prayut Sivayavirote

Don Pathan

The Nation