The recent killings of two public health workers at a village health office in Pattani's Yarang district and of a student of Prince of Songkhla University's Pattani Campus while on his way back from Yala to Pattani, are alarming as it has been rare for such people to fall victim to the southern unrest.

Internal Security Operations Command Region Four's Public Relations Centre Director Col Akara Tiproj explained that the militants had shifted their targets after being suppressed by the authorities' offensive in the last few months which saw almost 1,800 suspects arrested. And as they had got less press, so they turned to new and unlikely targets such as public health workers and students to regain media attention, he said.

A source close to the militants said that the tough military campaign would force the militants to adapt their tactics to harm people without regard to gender, age, and affiliation, extending to areas that are less under the control of the authorities.

"They will kill anybody to escalate the unrest," the source said.

Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre (SBPAC) Director Pranai Suwannarat said that the recent incidents happened in areas that were not yet covered by the authorities' operations. The insurgents chose vulnerable targets such as state officials in development, public health and education, who cannot protect themselves.

Panyasak Soponwasu, a researcher on security issues, said that the killings were not random, but deliberately chosen targets to send a message to create fear and maintain the militants' influence.

"Look closely and you will find many victims had links to enemies of the insurgency such as being the child of military or police officers, or under suspicion of being an informer who the militants would not hesitate to get rid of."

Panyasak wrote a research paper Unrest in the Deep South: Discourses with Religious Implications, based on Fights in Pattani, a book first found on the bodies of militants who killed in the Krue Se mosque incident in 2004, and later called a textbook of revolution for Pattani state.

The research paper decodes the thoughts and methods of the underground movement by studying activities, targets, documents, pamphlets, etc.

He said that to understand the thoughts behind the militants' operations, each area needs to be considered separately, as the environment and conditions of each area are not the same.

"The state has to admit openly that this is not a stupid fight. Don't use the ‘one size fits all' approach. It has to be understood that the groups operating in these 3-4 provinces have different approaches; that is, different concepts as a result of different interpretations and organizations of different ustaz, Muslim teachers," said Panyasak.

He referred to examples to make his point that the killings were not at random, but deliberate, planned, and controlled. In the lethal bombing of soldiers in Rue Soh district of Narathiwat, for example, some militants kept watch on the road to prevent children from passing. The killings of teachers in classrooms were not irrational. According to local people, some teachers had drawn the shapes of guns on the blackboard, asking if students had seen any, or had any at home. That was the motivation for the killings.

According to witnesses at the scene, it can be said that at times the militants used brutality on specific individuals or groups.

"When the office of Pado Tambon Administrative Organization was shot up in Pattani's Mayo district, the militants drove three women out of the room, and then shot four male officials. In the latest incident, two Buddhist Thais were shot dead at the village public health office in Yarang district, Pattani, after Muslim officials had been ordered to leave. So it cannot be described as random just to show brutality," said Panyasak.

In another example, in the killing of passengers on a commuter van between Yala and Betong in March, all the Buddhist passengers were shot dead, but the Muslim driver narrowly survived.

"At gun point, the Muslim driver was uttering the vow to God, ‘There is no other god than Allah'. That saved his life," said the researcher.

Panyasak also referred to research by Assist Srisompob Jitpiromsri, Deputy Dean of the Political Science Faculty of Prince of Songkhla University's Pattani Campus, which mentions ‘death warnings':

‘Things like white cloths, uncooked rice, and eggs that are used in Malayan Muslim funerals are signs of warning to traitors, mostly informers. For Buddhist Thais, pamphlets would be distributed to expel them. Obviously, the militants also want to show their power over people."

Panyasak sees a need to have specialists in various fields to form a team to analyze information, and avoid misunderstandings which will miss the solution and aggravate the situation.

Translated by Ponglert Pongwanan