Good intelligence and the seizure of a map of the Marines’ outpost in Narathiwat’s Bacho district from Islamist insurgents are two key elements attributable to the Marines’ success in the defence of the outpost and dealing a lethal blow to the attacking insurgents on February 13.

Who would have imagined that anyone with common sense would launch a multi-billion baht real estate project in one of the three southernmost provinces hard hit by insurgency, let alone that the project would be a success?

Mere mentioning of the deep South tends to automatically draw the attention of most individuals to the violence problem which has gripped the region for nine successive years with little hope of an early end to the problem. Most of them are totally unaware that the region is also facing another deadly threat – that is Aids – which has siliently killed hundreds of Aids sufferers and is spreading a ...

Nation Television reporter Sathien Viriyapanpongsa spent his childhood in Pattani. Of late, he wrote a commentary offering his perspective on the unrest situation which has beset the region for nine years since January 2004 with no end in sight.

Two of the four "dangerous" districts of Songkhla province have returned to civilian rule as the initial part of an ambitious plan for the military to gradually phase out of the restive deep South in order to allow the civilians to take over the responsibility of security maintenance.