Not many people that I know have ever even been down to the area in question but the few who do were afraid to go any further south than Songkla. The area of Yala is probably the most famous for their civil unrest as this portion of the country that is heavily Muslim has wanted for many years to not be part of Thailand anymore. While I am not sure what their idea is here, whether they seek to become part of Malaysia or to be their own country, they have caused a lot of violent attacks on the government and even teachers and monks in that part of the country.
A captured foreigner would probably be a high-value target foe the militant separatists in this area, and that is why it is advised that foreigners do not travel to this part of Thailand.
While I can understand why people would be unhappy with their government as I am not particularly pleased with my own, it is important to recognize that what is going on in Yala is a different kind of evil well beyond just wanting to pressure the government to cut you loose. Whoever is responsible for these seemingly random attacks doesn't pay much attention to who it is that they harm, they are just causing problems, injury and death to random folks. Buddhists and anyone that isn't Muslim are the primary targets for the groups but at the same time they injure and kill other Muslims in the attacks that they carry out as well.
Recently, a coordinated strike was carried out against random businesses and buildings in places in Yala, Songkla, Pattani, and Narathiwat as 44 separate buildings were set on fire.
There wasn't a great deal of injuries and from what I have read there was only one death. That is still one too many though, isn't it?
The Thai government has responded by sending the military in and now everyone that lives there is going to have their lives turned upside down as everyone will be searched and things are just going to move very slowly for all people in their lives. Markets are going to be heavily scrutinized and since this isn't the super PC western world, mosques will be regularly monitored and searched for materials that could be connected to bombings and fires.
I don't understand what the motivation of the separatists could possibly be because Thailand is not simply going to say "ok, you go ahead and be your own country" especially when you consider that the area contains some of the most important natural gas and oil resources in the entire country as well as the entire SEA region.
I was talking to someone that has been here a lot longer than I have been here and there was a time in the past where a Prime Minister named Thaksin had a response to similar actions by separatists in the past that were very effective, but so brutal that human-rights organizations around the world were scrutinizing it. Apparently, this Thaksin fella went in there with the military and a list of names and just executed everyone. No trial, no evidence, no nothing really. It is a scary way to think about things but according to my friend, it was very effective as the area experienced years of peace following that.
Unfortunately, I think that something like that will be the only way to squash this rebellion because they seem to be so dedicated to the cause that the leaders an their extremely dedicated religious followers are prepared to die for their cause.
In the meantime this is something that you won't hear talked about when people mention Thailand as a tourist destination. According to a buddy who is traveling down to Songkla for to visit a friend who works in the oil industry, there was a rather large military presence and every vehicle, personal or commercial, was being stopped and searched by the military.
This is relatively small part of the country that tourists would never really end up near anyway but I was surprised to hear that something like this was going on in Thailand because I have always lived here and felt like it was incredibly peaceful here even though you rarely even see police officers here.
I guess things change once you mix in violent ideology!