Word: regional
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...Iraq or Afghanistan than the sunny image projected in tourist brochures. Nearly every day, violence - motorcycle bombs, shootings, arson attacks, beheadings - claims another life in Thailand's three southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, which, unlike the rest of the Buddhist-majority country, are 80% Muslim. The region was a Malay sultanate until the early 20th century when Thailand annexed it. While members of both faiths have been killed by Muslim militants, as a proportion of the population more Buddhists have perished. This year looks set to eclipse 2008 in terms of bloodshed. Victims of the extremists, who generally...
...combat the slaughter, Thailand has unleashed a massive surge, sending nearly 70,000 security forces into a region populated by 1.7 million people. But the authorities have also encouraged local residents to arm themselves and form militias with fanciful names like the Iron Ladies, the Night Butterflies and the Eyes of a Pineapple. Around 100,000 civilians are now members of such armed groups, and they either receive free guns from the military or can buy them at deeply subsidized rates. The majority of militia members come from Buddhist ranks because the government feels they are most vulnerable to attack...
...handing thousands of firearms to briefly trained and skittish citizens the best strategy? Lieutenant General Pichet Wisaijorn, the Fourth Army commander in charge of security in a region fortified by miles of razor wire and tons of sandbag bunkers, contends that there's no alternative to a weapons buildup. "If everyone threw away their guns, that would be wonderful," he says. "But if the insurgents have guns and no one else does, that's not fair. We have to help people feel secure, and guns give them protection...
North and South Korea's navies exchanged gunfire for the first time in seven years, raising tensions between the rivals shortly before President Barack Obama visits the region. Both countries reported no injuries from the Nov. 10 skirmish along their western maritime border, though the North Korean vessel sustained heavy damage. Officials in Seoul said the shooting was triggered by a North Korean patrol boat that had strayed more than a mile into South Korean territory; the North said the South was the aggressor. Analysts did not expect the incident to spark further conflict, suggesting that Pyongyang may be seeking...
Late-night digging along the back roads of Bastar, a dense jungle region in India's northern state of Chhattisgarh, can only mean one thing if there's nothing to show for it the next day: Maoist rebel activity. So when a group of villagers in the state's Kanker district, the gateway to Bastar, were kept awake for nights on end last month by repeated chinking from metal striking rock on a nearby road, they knew something...