Another upsurge of violence in the deep South has touched both security forces and innocent bystanders with death and bloodshed.
Four police officers and a civilian passerby were killed in one ambush alone.
Southern gangs attacked a teachers' protection team, then for unknown reasons fired six bullets into a mother who had just dropped off her daughter at a different school.
No one knew why 30-year-old Jareewan Srisamor was shot. She may have been a target, the shooting may have been a mistake, or - depressing but true - she could have been the random victim of a vicious and misled young man, assigned to shoot anyone at all just to earn membership in one of the insurgent groups.
But there was an underlying reason for her tragic shooting. The southern separatists are once again attempting to chip away at the resolve of Bangkok authorities. The armed men and their political masters believe they can eventually win the battle for the deep South. They use guerrilla attacks like the "double tap" ambush that resulted in four dead Thai policemen and a civilian who happened to be passing by.
They maintain constant, stressful pressure on security forces, first and foremost the schools and their protectors, who the southern groups claim are symbols of Bangkok oppression. And they try hard to keep the local people of the South tense, tired and demoralised with seemingly random, terrorist-type attacks like gunning down Mrs Jareewan.
Successive governments have become depressingly and unalterably rigid in military, political and human rights policies, many of which are clearly unworkable. The 10-year old emergency laws have done nothing _ literally nothing measureable _ to advance government policies or to attract support by southerners.
In an area of Thailand where murderous and terroristic thugs have opposed decency and the law on a daily basis, the government has failed to grab the moral high ground, because its own actions are so questionable.
The ninth anniversary of the Tak Bai killings is on Oct 25. Security forces killed outright or caused the deaths of at least 78 men rounded up during a turbulent anti-government protest. No government since then has taken responsibility, although ironically, the prime minister appointed by the military junta in 2006 issued a weak apology. While the killings were by soldiers, even the Supreme Court has ruled that no one was actually to blame, and no one in charge needs to be identified or brought to justice.
Since the incident at Tak Bai, there have been eight prime ministers of five distinct governments. Five supreme commanders have led the Royal Thai Armed Forces, and there have been four army commanders. None of these national leaders have stepped up to take responsibility, or call for accountability.
The prime minister of the day, Thaksin Shinawatra, said the men who died of suffocation stacked like cordwood in army trucks were too weak from Ramadan fasting. Similar or worse excuses have followed. More often there has been silence.
That thunderous silence has been heard, first and foremost, across the deep South. To the people there, the silence comes from a government which never has been sympathetic to the region. Every government for five decades has had a chance to show concern for the far South. The shabby, irresponsible and even uncaring policies which the central government has imposed on the region helps give hope to those violent groups responsible for so much bloodshed.