Last week's murderous attack on visiting farmers in Pattani puts the southern conflict at a crossroads. It gives the government clear notice that the country is facing mortal danger. The killing of men trying to help the southern region's economy can only be called a serious threat to the nation, and the government must face up to it or put the nation at risk.
The attack on Friday on an agricultural team was more than just another escalation of the conflict by southern extremists. Two young farmers from Sing Buri were shot and killed in the ambush in Bo Loy village. Ten others were wounded.
The Central region farmers were in Pattani to help southern farmers revive rice fields, which have been put to rubber or left fallow because of the security threat. The Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre (SBPAC) began the project last year.
Twenty experienced, young and enthusiastic farmers from the Central region took part. As the group was returning from the fields last Friday, militants caught the unarmed volunteers in an ambush and gunned them down.
The attack was planned, and the target carefully chosen. The killings meet all definitions of terrorism _ the attempt to use violence to intimidate the civilian population for political or criminal goals.
The "insurgency" in the deep South has resulted in increased use of terrorism in recent months. Now in its 10th year, the uprising has even tried to equate murders of civilian teachers as attacks on the state. But Friday's ambush of the farmers is well beyond that justification.
For some time now, the gangs of the deep South have stepped up adoption of the tactics of international terrorism. Improvised explosives left on the roadside and urban car bombs have become common.
Anti-government groups have increasingly made it a point to single out Buddhists as targets for murder or terrorism. They have affirmed their warped claims to be fighting for their religion, and have intensified their demands for ethnic cleansing of the region they lay claim to.
One must also not dismiss the foreign influence in the deep South. Separatist violence flared in the 1970s largely because of funding and training by Libya's late leader Moammar Gadhafi. Iran provided shelter and money in the early 1980s. Al-Qaeda reportedly trained and influenced hundreds of Thai students in the 1990s.
This week, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is holding its summit in Cairo. An OIC delegation visited the South last week, primarily to see the Rohingya but also to report on the security situation. The OIC even called again for talks between the government and the southern gangs _ impossible for now because the insurgents remain anonymous.
The OIC could help. Late last week, the group condemned a suicide terrorist bombing in Turkey. It "strongly condemned" the burning of historical manuscripts by Taliban-like Islamists in Mali, northern Africa. The OIC has consistently proscribed terrorism and the mindless destruction of history in the name of religion. So at its summit this week, the OIC should condemn the attack on farmers in the Thai South.
This is, however, a national problem, if not a real emergency. The murderous attack on the farmers escalates the war to a crisis point. Unless the government adopts new strategies and tactics, it will start to face a national disaster.