Thailand to Compensate Southern Insurgency Victims

26 April 2012

Thailand’s cabinet has approved financial compensation for victims of an ongoing insurgency in the country’s Muslim-majority south that began in 2004. Justice Minister Pracha Promnog says a US $67 million  budget was approved to pay people who have been affected by the regional unrest. More than 5,000 people have been killed and more than 8,000 injured in Thailand’s three southernmost provinces since violence erupted eight years ago. Pracha says the money will cover victims of the insurgency, security forces, plus people who were detained and were later acquitted of the charges.—AP