Dozens of coordinated arson and incendiary attacks across Thailand’s south left at least three people wounded and government property burned, the military has said.

Multiple local government offices and several vehicles were damaged or destroyed in the 51 attacks late on Saturday, according to the military’s Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC).

“Multiple coordinated incidents aimed at creating unrest occurred in various locations across the southern border provinces” from about 8pm (13:00 GMT) to midnight on Saturday, the ISOC said in a statement.

Firefighters worked to extinguish burning tyres left in the middle of a road and flames inside a 7-Eleven convenience store on Saturday night, while police officers stopped motorists for security checks, footage from the local broadcaster Thai PBS showed.

Most of the attacks were in Narathiwat province, where three civilians were wounded and an overnight curfew was imposed, while other attacks occurred in neighbouring Yala and Pattani provinces, authorities said.

Since 2004, a low-level conflict has simmered in the southernmost provinces of Buddhist-majority Thailand, killing more than 7,000 people, as rebels in the Muslim-majority region battle for greater autonomy.

No group has claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attacks.

Two women, aged 45 and 46, and a 21-year-old man were hurt in a roadside bombing in Narathiwat, provincial officials said in a statement.

All three were admitted to hospital and were in stable condition.

The national railway operator temporarily suspended part of a route in Narathiwat after officials found damage on the tracks “caused by a disruptive bombing incident last night”, the ISOC said.

Narathiwat Governor Boonchuay Homyamyen told local media that concerned agencies were investigating sites of the attacks on Sunday, including a local government office, telecommunications towers and electrical poles.

The Narathiwat military command earlier announced a curfew from Saturday night until 6am on Sunday.

A vehicle was stolen from the office of a subdistrict administrative organisation in Narathiwat during one of the attacks that left the building in flames, the ISOC said.

The burned-out pick-up truck was later found abandoned on a road.

Expected attacks

At a municipal office in Pattani province, damaged in another attack, army commander for the southern region Norathip Poinok said on Sunday that the assailants had aimed to destroy the building and undermine public trust in the state.

“We had intelligence reports for about two months that there would be attacks on local offices,” he told reporters, adding that the military had issued warnings to security agencies but did not know when and where the assaults would occur.

Rebels in the far south regularly carry out attacks on security officials and government property, including before visits by officials to the region.

Last month, assailants killed five soldiers in a shooting and bomb attack at a checkpoint in Narathiwat.

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and members of his cabinet are scheduled to make a two-day visit to the city of Hat Yai in southern Songkhla province next week to discuss investment projects, flood prevention and security issues, his office said on Saturday.

Formal talks between the Thai government and the National Revolutionary Front, abbreviated as BRN in the local language, the main separatist group in the south, were expected to resume in June after a rise in violence. The negotiations have struggled to resolve disagreements over self-government, security measures and political representation.

Earlier this week, Thanut Suvarnananda, head of Thailand’s National Intelligence Agency who was appointed by the government in April to lead the peace process, said he wants to move away from a transactional approach.

Thanut said he seeks to turn the BRN from an adversary into a potential partner in addressing demands from communities across Thailand’s deep south, including the predominantly Malay-Muslim provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat that were once part of the independent Malay sultanate of Patani.

[Aljazeera]