Years of blasts and shootings may have shaken up the peace process in the far South but the flare-ups have done nothing to chisel away at the region's two most prized assets -- its natural resources and economic potential.
The deep South was plunged into an insurgency crisis on Jan 4, 2004 when militants overran the 4th Development Battalion at the Kromluang Narathiwat Ratchanakarin military camp in Narathiwat's Cho Airong district and made off with a large cache of firearms.
The theft preceded a wave of attacks across the southernmost provinces. At some points, random shootings and blasts became a daily occurrence, intensifying over time in both frequency and gravity.
