A business operator in Yala vowed on Tuesday to stand against terrorism, after seeing his warehouse set ablaze by a large bomb on Monday.
A warehouse of Sri Samai Co was severely damaged by a bomb in Yala's Muang district on Monday. (Photo by Muhammad Ayub Pathan)
''I won't give up. How can I quit when we have to take care of a thousand lives?,'' Upatham Sirichai, an executive of the Sri Samai warehouse told FM97 radio station.
The damage to goods at his Yala municipality warehouse alone is estimated at 100 million baht - be more if the reconstruction cost of the damaged depot is included.
Sri Samai Co distributes goods to all three southern border provinces and four districts in Songkhla. That is basically the operating area of the insurgent and separatist gangs in the area. The Yala warehouse of the family-run business he inherited from his parents is the core distribution centre.
Upatham Sirichai, a Sri Samai executive, vows to keep the business going despite being hit by a bomb.
The blaze on Monday was not the first for the firm. Its department stores in Narathiwat and Pattani, also run by the family, were damaged in previous insurgent attacks.
Super Department Store in Narathiwat was bombed in 2012, causing damage of at least 60 million baht. Another store in Pattani was burnt in a bombing in the same year.
''Our competitors are moving ahead but we have to come back to build it from scratch again and again,'' Mr Upatham said. ''If we move out, business morale [in the region] will suffer."
Security measures against insurgency in Yala municipality are considered the best of the three embattled provinces, including Narathiwat and Pattani. It is the administrative centre for the far South, where the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre is located.
Mr Upatham did not blame security authorities for the bombings that hit Yala Sunday and Monday, killing one person and wounding more than two dozen. He condemned insurgents for planting bombs in the province.
The bombing in Yala on Sunday and Monday was the first time in two years.
Caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Tuesday ordered her deputy, Pol Gen Pracha Promnok to go to the border region to hold talks with security agencies to stamp out the rising violence.
Many saw it as an attempt by insurgents to discredit the newly appointed 4th Army commander, Lt Gen Walit Rojanapakdi.
But Najmuddin Uma, a key member of the Wadah political faction, dismissed this speculation and said insurgents normally stepped up their activities in April.
The month is the anniversary of the Krue Se massacre of April 28, 2004. It also marks the clash between authorities and Muslim locals, known as the Dusun Nyor rebellion, in Narathiwat from April 25-28, 1948.
Mr Najmuddin also pointed to the stalled peace talks as a problem. The political turmoil was taking its toll on attempts to restore peace in the South as the country has no authoritative agency to continue dialogue with separatists, the veteran politician added.
A new round of talks between the government and the Barison Revolusi Nasional (BRN) was supposed to take place in November last year but it was postponed indefinitely.
''The government is on the right track [with peace talks] although the BRN is not the only separatist group in the South,'' he said.
Pol Maj Gen Songkiat Wathakul, chief of the Yala police force, said the blasts on Sunday and Monday were likely by a single group. At least four people were involved he said, adding police were gathering more evidence.