Thai army's post-coup actions in deep south hardening insurgency, observers say

A bombing suspect who was held for two weeks without charge in Thailand's insurgency-battered south says an army dragnet after a May coup overthrew the government is stiffening hostility towards the kingdom - and undercutting a fresh bid for peace.

The decade-long conflict has claimed more than 6,100 lives across Thailand's lush, forested Muslim-majority southern provinces, where shadowy rebels are fighting for a level of autonomy from the Thai state.

Most of the victims are civilians caught up in the near-daily bombings, shootings - and occasional beheadings - that define a war largely ignored by Thais and forgotten by the wider world.

From a remote hamlet cocooned by fruit trees, Ri (not his real name), 23, says he was arrested on suspicion of planting one of a series of bombs that rocked Pattani, capital of the province of the same name.

"They took me to an [army] rangers' base. I told them I was innocent, but they still held me. I don't know why," the student said of his arrest in July.

The blasts, which occurred two days after the May 22 coup, killed several people and wounded scores more - appearing timed to remind the junta that new political realities in Bangkok had little bearing on the battle for the deep south.