Flags burnt in co-ordinated attacks across restive Thai south

Suspected insurgents burned Thai flags and raised Malaysian flags in their place in a co-ordinated operation on Friday across Thailand’s Muslim-dominated south that also saw the militants plant bombs that wounded six soldiers, officials said.

The unrest came on the anniversary of the 1989 founding of an umbrella separatist group that combined four Thai separatist movements, as well as the anniversary of neighbouring Malaysia’s independence from British rule.

The insurgents are mainly ethnic Malays, but it’s not clear why they would raise Malaysian flags. Analysts say the militants want a separate state but have never indicated they want to be part of Malaysia.

More than 5,000 people have been killed in Buddhist-dominated Thailand’s southernmost, Muslim-majority provinces since an Islamic insurgency flared in 2004. Improvised bombings and shootings against security forces and civilians have been common insurgent tactics, but flag burnings are rare. The last time Malaysian flags were raised was in 2009 during a visit to southern Thailand by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, said Sunai Phasuk, a senior researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Sunai said it was a mystery why insurgents would raise Malaysian flags. “There is no convincing reason,” he said.

Thailand accuses Malaysia of harbouring Thai insurgent leaders as well as militants suspected of carrying out attacks. Malaysia denies the charges.