Two Thai officials, including Isra Thongthawat, the deputy governor of Yala province, were killed April 5 when suspected Muslim rebels detonated an improvised explosive device along a roadside, Reuters reported.

Thailand is holding peace talks with the Barisan Revolusi Nasional group, a Muslim insurgent organization, in Kuala Lumpur, in an effort to curb violence in the country's south, the BBC reported March 28.

A bomb exploded in the city of Pattani in southern Thailand on Feb. 17, killing two and injuring 11, and police defused several additional devices in nine other areas around the city, Reuters reported.

At least 17 militants were killed after 100 heavily armed gunmen stormed a military base in southern Thailand the morning of Feb. 13, a Thai army spokesman said, AFP reported.

Police clashed with protesters from the royalist Pitak Siam group, which repeatedly attempted to breach police lines at a rally against Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in Bangkok on Nov. 24, Reuters reported.

Trade ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations -- along with counterparts from China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand