The first six days of the Ramadan fasting period passed without any insurgent violence in the far South, National Security Council secretary-general Paradorn Pattanatabut said yesterday.
Lt Gen Paradorn said the start of this year's Ramadan, which began last Wednesday, was the best in four years. In the past four Ramadans, an average of five to 11 attacks took place in the same period.
He said violence was particularly rampant during the start and near the end of Ramadan, with a period of relative calm in between.
Lt Gen Paradorn was commenting after attending a meeting of security agencies chaired by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra yesterday.
Also present were Deputy Prime Minister Pracha Promnok, who oversees national security, Pol Col Thawee Sodsong, secretary-general of the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre, and deputy permanent secretary for defence Lt Gen Nipat Thonglek.
The meeting discussed the 40-day ceasefire which the government has reached with the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) over the Ramadan period. It concludes on Aug 18.
Lt Gen Paradorn said that after the end of this year's Ramadan, the number of attacks during the whole period, if any, will be assessed to compare it with the past four years.
If the number of violent incidents on the whole is lower, it would suggest the talks between the government and the BRN are working and the peace process should proceed, he said.
Lt Gen Paradorn said the number of security forces in the southernmost provinces remains the same.
Pol Gen Pracha said the first six days of the Ramadan ceasefire had turned out to be peaceful and he hoped the calm would continue for the remainder of the festival.
He said the success of the ceasefire reflected the BRN's sincerity, although he insisted that withdrawing security forces from the far South, as demanded by the BRN, is out of the question for the time being. He stressed it is the government that should dictate the conditions, not the BRN.
Meanwhile, two white cloth banners with a message telling soldiers to get out of the region and declaring support for the separatist movement were found hanging on a roadside near Ban Laweng in tambon Choeng Khiri of Narathiwat's Si Sakhon district on Monday morning.
The message on each of the banners read: "Soldiers get out. Support BRN." It was written in red in the Thai language.
The banners were removed and sent to Narathiwat's forensic science unit for further examination.
Attacks were reported in the far South yesterday but authorities have yet to conclude they were insurgency related.
In Yala, a man identified as Abdulrahim Ngoleng, 50, was shot dead while fishing at a pond near a school in tambon Satengnok in Muang district around midnight on Monday. Police are investigating.
In Pattani, a local newspaper reporter, Poramate Wongboonrod, was seriously injured after being shot in the cheek, abdomen, and right shoulder. The shooting took place on the No.418 road linking Pattani with Yala in tambon Kholotanyong of Pattani's Nong Chik district.