Two killed by motorcycle bomb in restive southern Thailand
Thai police stand guard during a suspected insurgents attack at a military base in Thailand’s restive southern province of Narathiwat on February, 13, 2013. The Thai government agreed on February 28, 2013 to peace talks with Muslim rebels operating in the south.
Two military rangers were killed by a motorcycle bomb and eleven were wounded in Thailand's southern province of Yala on March 2, only two days after rebel group Barisan Revolusi Nasional agreed to begin talks with the Thai government aimed at ending the conflict.
Since 2005, the conflict between Thailand and the BRN has claimed over 5,000 lives, says Reuters. Malaysia brokered the agreement between the two parties in Kuala Lumpur, and talks are slated to begin in two weeks.
Read more from GlobalPost: Thailand: government to hold peace talks with Muslim rebels
According to the Bangkok Post, the motorcycle was parked near a public park in Yala's Muang district when it exploded in the afternoon on March 2, and was detonated just as eight paramilitary officers walked by.
The Bangkok Post reports that one ranger was killed, while seven soldiers and four civilians were injured in the fighting.
Earlier in February, suspected Muslim insurgents set off a motorcycle bomb in the Thai city of Pattani, killing three civilian security volunteer volunteers and wounding nine others, according to the Associated Press.
In an especially bloody February incident, sixteen insurgents were killed when they attempted to storm a Thai military base in the South.