Southern Thailand attacks reflect tension over peace talks, conflict monitor says

Military personnel inspect a site of an attack at the Saba Yoi district, in the troubled southern province of Songkhla, Thailand April 20, 2017. REUTERS/Surapan Boonthanom

BANGKOK (Reuters) - A string of gun and grenade attacks in southern Thailand that killed two people reflects tension over talks aimed at ending violence there, a conflict monitoring group said on Thursday, warning against similar attacks in future.

Thailand's far south has battled a separatist insurgency since 2004, when resistance to Buddhist rule in the Muslim-majority region flared. More than 6,500 people, most of them civilians, have died in separatist violence since.