Drug dealers and influential mafia bosses are said to be funding the insurgency and attacks in the deep South, including the most recent car bombings, an analysis by the Fourth Army Area commander Lt-General Udomchai Thammasarorat showed.

“They have also heightened their operations in response to extensive suppression by security forces and civilian authorities, and are on purpose showing off their potential to discourage those who want to lay down their arms, while boosting the morale of active insurgents,” he said.

Udomchai concurred with a theory that the increase in violence was meant to draw the attention of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and get it to intervene.

The Nation