State of emergency extended in deep South
The government on Friday extended the state of emergency on three southern border provinces for three more months.
Gen Wallop Raksanoh, secretary general of the National Security Council, said the committee in charge of emergency situation in the deep South decided to extend the state of emergency for Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat from December 20 to January 19.
The committee, which is chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwan, also decided to lift the emergency situation in the Sukharin district of Narathiwat after the insurgency situation improved. Sukharin will instead be put under the lighter Internal Security Act.
The committee also considered the status of four other districts but the panel decided that their situations have not yet improved enough to warrant the emergency status being lifted.
The emergency decree has been declared in the deep South to allow authorities to bypass normal legal procedures for taking suspected insurgents into custody and for interrogation.