Prayuth believes fighting will continue in deep South despite peace-talk agreement

Army Commander-in-Chief Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha Sunday expressed confidence that violent attacks by insurgents will continue in the deep South despite a peace talk agreement with an insurgent group.

Prayuth was reacting on a motorcycle bomb attack in Yala that killed two military rangers and wounding many others on Saturday.

Prayuth said the attacks would continue in southern border provinces because many new insurgent groups have been formed and the new groups would not receive command from the group that signed a peace talk deal with Thailand on Saturday.

In a landmark agreement brokered by Malaysia, the Thai government and the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) rebel group agreed to start talks aimed at ending a conflict.

But Prayuth said the BRN, which signed the contract, had been abandoned by new insurgent groups and the BRN was apparently seeking a political role. "They have been abandoned for a long time," Prayuth added.

The Nation