BANGKOK, July 17: Thailand declared emergency rule across virtually the whole of its Muslim south on Sunday in a surprisingly tough move to reign in a raging insurgency. Invoking new powers, the government declared an emergency in Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani provinces plus four districts in neighbouring Songkhla province, where at least 810 people have died in violence since January 2004.

“The decree will cover every district in the three provinces, plus four neighbouring districts in Songkhla province. Those districts also need monitoring, because something could happen,” Interior Minister Chidchai Vanasathidya told reporters.

The government had been expected to announce ‘emergency zones’ within the provinces rather than declaring the whole provinces under emergency rule.

Few details of the new measures were announced but authorities will have powers to tap phones, search and arrest without warrant and censor news, among other actions.

Authorities initially will focus on limiting the movement of people in the region, and on news reporting of the insurgency, Chidchai said.

“We will try to take a soft stance on reporting and not infringe on press freedoms,” he said.

A newly formed Council of Ministers — comprising interior, defence and justice ministers among other — will meet on Monday to set out the details on implementing the new orders, Chidchai said.

The emergency was declared under a controversial decree approved at a special cabinet meeting on Friday, one day after militants staged a daring raid on the southern town of Yala in which four people were killed and at least 20 others injured.

The decree centralizes in the prime minister’s office many powers that the military was already using in much of the region along the southern border with Malaysia, which has been under martial law since the insurgency broke out in January 2004.

“When the law takes force, everything will be the same but the enforcement will be more strict,” the army chief, General Prawit Wongsuwan, told reporters before the security meeting.

“Everything will follow the law. We don’t have to adjust the way we work,” he said.

The decree drew swift condemnation in Thai media and from Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s critics, who warned that placing so much power in his office could escalate unrest which shows no signs of abating.

Two border patrol police were killed and a police car was bombed in separate attacks in Thailand’s restive south, authorities said on Sunday.

The pair were shot dead in the Sri Sakhon district of Narathiwat province as they travelled home after finishing their duties on Saturday evening, police said.

Lance Corporals Pari Samoh and Archai Taumoh died on the spot. Their two M-16 rifles and a pistol were stolen by the gunmen.—AFP