Thailand

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has visited the conflict-torn south amid escalating violence. The leader spent the night of October 6 in a heavily guarded Buddhist temple in what he said was the country's most dangerous area. The conflict in Thailand's Muslim-majority provinces has escalated in recent weeks. In September, two marines were taken hostage in the village of Tanyong Limo then beaten and stabbed to death. About 1,000 people have been killed in daily shootings and bombings since January 2004. Thaksin's government has failed to develop a policy for ending fighting with separatist insurgents who resent rule by the Bangkok

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