Several bombs have gone off in Thailand’s insurgency-plagued south killing one person and wounding dozens in a new wave of violence.

The blasts were in Pattani, one of three Muslim-majority provinces in largely Buddhist Thailand, near the Malaysian border, on Wednesday and Thursday.

Resistance to central government rule has existed for decades in the area but violence picked up significantly  in  2004.  More  than  6,500  people,  including  Buddhist  monks,  teachers,  troops  and separatist insurgents have been killed since then.

People in the south complain of years of neglect by Bangkok.

The failure of successive governments to quell the violence has fanned distrust of the state in the region, which was an independent Malay Muslim sultanate a century ago before being annexed by Thailand.

Shortly after taking power in a 2014 coup, the military vowed to bring peace to the south within a year.

31/03 – http://www.reuters.com (extrait)