Crime and local disputes also probed in southern attacks, NSC chief says

National Security Council secretary-general Chatchai Bangchuad said the latest attacks in Thailand’s southern border provinces may have been retaliation for intensified state operations, but authorities were not yet attributing the violence solely to the Barisan Revolusi Nasional, or BRN.

Speaking at Government House after a security-agency meeting chaired by Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, Chatchai said investigators were also examining whether crime, illicit activity or local disputes contributed to individual incidents.

Fourth Army Region was working to identify those responsible, while Internal Security Operations Command Region 4 Forward Command had been managing the situation since the first reports of unrest, he said.

The authorities had made public safety their main priority because businesses and local administrative organisation offices had been directly affected. The prime minister instructed agencies to protect residents and produce concrete law-enforcement results as quickly as possible.

Possible retaliation to intensified operations

Chatchai said disturbances at multiple locations were not new and that similar waves of unrest had occurred twice this year.

Those responsible may have been responding to intensified government operations or attempting to demonstrate their continuing capabilities, he said.

The tougher enforcement followed an attack in which five paramilitary rangers were killed. Chatchai said the subsequent violence could therefore have been retaliation against the government’s security agencies.

However, he cautioned against assuming that every incident had been carried out by the same movement.

Asked about reports that a new generation of young BRN members might have been involved, Chatchai said the circumstances appeared to involve a mixture of factors and that the BRN’s role had not been established to that extent.

Other overlapping threats, including ordinary crime and illegal activity in the region, could have been involved, he said.

The targeting of local administrative organisation offices also raised the possibility that local issues contributed to some incidents. Investigators would have to establish what happened and determine the cause separately at each location.

Incident tally requires closer assessment

Chatchai said the reported number of incidents required careful classification based on the nature and severity of each case.

Setting fire to one box should not automatically be recorded as a separate major incident, he said. Counting every individual tyre that was burned as another incident could also produce an excessively detailed tally.

Authorities would therefore need to assess the seriousness of each occurrence before determining the final number.

Chatchai said no fatalities had been recorded and that the incidents had caused property damage. About 15 local administrative organisation offices were affected, while the other incidents involved arson, according to his account.

Police and Fourth Army Region personnel were investigating who carried out the attacks and the circumstances at each location.

Attackers believed to have operated inside Thailand

Chatchai said Malaysian authorities had strengthened controls over people entering and leaving the country and had closed informal natural crossing points along the border.

He therefore believed those responsible for the latest incidents had operated from within Thailand rather than crossing the border to carry them out.

His assessment did not establish the nationality of the perpetrators or identify a particular organisation.

Asked about earlier intelligence on the attacks, Chatchai said security agencies may have known that an operation was being planned but confirming the precise date and time was difficult.

He was responding to comments by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow that the authorities had received advance intelligence. Chatchai said his assessment was consistent with the Fourth Army Region commander’s explanation that general warnings did not necessarily identify exactly when an attack would occur.

Three areas of the security response

Chatchai said the government’s response would have to advance simultaneously in three areas:

• stronger intelligence collection and assessment;
• greater operational capacity among the military, police and civilian administrative authorities; and
• tighter border security and control of crossing points.

Although authorities believed the attacks originated inside Thailand, border controls remained important, he said.

Central and local agencies would also have to improve integration and exchange information more effectively in addressing the unrest.

Chatchai said the military already had strong capabilities and that personnel were working to their full capacity. However, the agencies involved would need to integrate their operations more seriously.

He suggested that the violence had coincided with intensified government enforcement, prompting the opposing side to demonstrate that it retained the ability to act. Other criminal, illegal or local factors could nevertheless have contributed to particular incidents, he added.

Security prepared for Songkhla Cabinet meeting

Chatchai said he was not concerned that the unrest had occurred shortly before a mobile Cabinet meeting planned for Songkhla at the end of August.

Security authorities were prepared to protect the meeting and were coordinating closely with agencies in the province, he said.

The army leadership and Fourth Army Region were giving the matter their full attention.

Investigators will continue examining the attacks individually rather than assuming that every incident had the same perpetrators, motive or connection to the BRN.