State of emergency in Thailand's south extended for three months

Barbed wire is pictured on a river along the Thailand-Malaysia border in Takbai district in the southern province of Narathiwat. - AFP

BANGKOK (Xinhua): Thailand's Emergency Situation Administration Committee (ESAC), chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, announced on (Dec 14) that the state of emergency in Thailand's restive southern border provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat is to be extended for another three months, from Dec 20, for security reasons.

The ESAC has decided to extend the decree on the grounds that the insurgents still have the capability to threaten security in the three provinces and there are signs that they may resort to violence, said a statement released by the ESAC.