New school term starts amid tight security measures in Thai far South

BANGKOK, May 16 (TNA) - The new semester has started for all schools nationwide, amid intensified security measures provided for those in the violence-plagued Thai far South. Lieutenant General Paradorn Pattanatabutr, Secretary-General of the National Security Council (NSC), told journalists on Thursday that all parties are taking precautions, as the new school term has started in the southern border Thai region. Lieutenant General Paradorn acknowledged that there has not been any violent attack so far this week and Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will chair a meeting of agencies concerned at Bangkok's Government House on Friday to discuss the development of infrastructures and education for the troubled southernmost Thai region, as well as the suppression of illicit businesses which fund insurgency movements in the Thai deep South. The NSC chief said, however, that he has not received any response to his request to Malaysian authorities to inquire about continual violent incidents in the Thai deep South from the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) insurgency movement, which is expected to take some times. The NSC chief made the inquiry, as there have been two rounds of peace talks between the Thai government, through the NSC, and representatives of insurgents in the Thai far South, led by the BRN, since earlier this year. (TNA)