BANGKOK, Jan 18 – The Cabinet on Tuesday extended the state of emergency in Thailand’s three southernmost insurgency-plagued provinces for another three months.

The extension is the 22nd since the law was introduced in mid-2005 to restore peace in the southern border region.

The special law facilitates the operations of security agencies and allows them to detain suspected insurgents for an initial period of 30 days.

Earlier, the long-standing emergency decree and martial law were lifted in Pattani’s Mae Lan district Dec 28 as a pilot move to scale down security in the southernmost provinces, a move which would eventually lead to the lifting of the special law in other areas of the three provinces.

The emergency decree has been replaced by the Internal Security Act.

MCOT