Security tightened as 14 killed in Thailand

Bloomberg

Thailand tightened security after at least 14 people were killed in the restive deep south in one of the region’s worst attacks in recent years.
Assailants targeted two checkpoints in Yala province, in an assault that left another five people injured.
Police said they suspected insurgents were responsible and that surveillance had been intensified at other potential targets, such as tourist attractions.
Bombings and gun attacks periodically flare in the southern provinces of Narathiwat, Yala, Pattani and Songkhla, where separatists have fought for an independent state since Thailand
formally annexed the autonomous Malay-Muslim sultanate in 1902.
But the scale of the deaths came as a shock for some officials in the Asian nation. The attackers sprayed gunfire at the checkpoints and were trying to provoke unrest, according to government and police statements.
“We’ll bring the perpetrators to justice,” Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha said on Twitter.
The Thai economy relies on tourism and major
bombings or attacks can temporarily unsettle holidaymakers planning visits. On some estimates, the industry accounts for about a fifth of the economy.