In a worrying indication of the severity of the conflict in South Thailand, Maplecroft have just released their latest Terrorism Risk Index, and Thailand has entered the category of countries with an 'extreme risk of terrorism'. Maplecroft have included 9 countries in this category, the others being: Iraq (1), Afghanistan (2), Pakistan (3), Somalia (4), Lebanon (5), India (6), Algeria (7), and Colombia (8).

The high ranking of Thailand may be surprising to some, but Eva Molyneux of Maplecroft points out that "media coverage can often skew public perceptions of terrorism risk in a country by publicising mass-casualty attacks. However, smaller terrorist incidents often go unreported".

Ruairi Nolan, Insight on Conflict, 25 February 2010.