DOZENS of violent incidents have rocked the Deep South during the holy month of Ramadan in a bid to discredit the military government, but the attacks were not linked to the Islamic State (IS), Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said yesterday, despite an increase in violence orchestrated by the group in Southeast Asia.

At least two fatal attacks were reported yesterday, including a car-bomb attack against police at a checkpoint in Pattani and the shooting death of a civilian woman, as the Ramadan festival concluded.

“But it should be noted that such attacks did not happen in towns, reflecting that perpetrators were not able to cause such violence in strictly controlled areas,” Prawit said.

Thailand was not a target of the terrorist group. “No, IS is not active here,” he said.

A suicide bomber also detonated an explosive device in front of the Surakarta Police headquarters in central Java yesterday, injuring a police officer, officials said.

The suicide bomber, who was later identified as Islamic State supporter Nur Rohman, 30, was reported to have died from injuries sustained during the attack, according to The Jakarta Post.

Meanwhile, The Star reported from Malaysia that an extremist group believed to be IS released a video clip to declare war against Malaysia and Indonesia.

Thailand’s Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc) also denied that intensifying violence in the far south was connected to IS, which called for more terror attacks during Ramadan.

“There is no report that IS has conducted any activity in Thailand’s three southern border provinces,” Isoc spokesman Colonel Phirawat Saengthong said.

He added that relevant authorities were monitoring the situation around the clock.

Colonel Yuthanam Petchmuang, a deputy spokesman for the Forward Command of Isoc Region 4, said Thailand had been in contact with Malaysia to coordinate intelligence operations. He said he believed that the neighbouring country was facing threats from IS.

During the past month of Ramadan, 30 violent incidents have rocked the predominantly Muslim South. The attacks claimed 16 lives and injured a further 24 people.

Two of the attacks involved bombs loaded on pickup trucks.

The latest car-bomb attack came yesterday morning at a road checkpoint in Pattani’s Nong Chik district, killing one policeman and injuring two others.

Officials said the explosion was caused by a home-made bomb hidden in a pickup.

The bomb caused a fire that burned down the checkpoint booth.

Pol Corporal Thani Saengsuwan was killed in the blast and his body burnt in the subsequent fire.

Pol Corporal Natthapol Chunu, 28, and Pol Corporal Apichart Taeng-cham, 29, were also injured in the explosion and rushed to a nearby hospital.

The victims were manning a major checkpoint in an area considered a gateway to the deep South.

In the wake of the yesterday’s bomb, Yuthanam dismissed suggestions that the past month was the southern region’s bloodiest Ramadan over the past decade.

Compared with 2015, Ramadan this year registered fewer attacks and fatalities, he said. Last year, 50 attacks took place in the deep South during Ramadan, with 20 people killed and 33 others hurt.

In 2014, 22 violent incidents struck the region, killing 11 victims and injuring 74 others.

In a separate incident in Narathiwat province, a civilian woman, Waewta Chantae, was shot dead yesterday morning. The perpetrators left a note on her body reading: “This is a revenge for government officials’ M79 grenade attack on a mosque.”

Waewta is considered the final casualty of the Ramadan period.

Yala police chief Pol General Ittipol Achariyapradit said someone was trying to discredit authorities.

He said Bannang Sata Police Station, which is opposite a mosque that was attacked, in his province might have been the real target.

“It’s just the grenades did not accurately hit the target,” he said.

On Monday night, an M79 grenade struck a house and a |road in front of the mosque in, injuring three victims, one of them seriously.