The deputy minister will be tasked with overseeing the integration of plans and quickly allocate funds for national security, while the rest of the team – retired officials familiar with the deep South – will communicate directly with Prayut.

The PM declined to identify who will take up this task and called on the media to offer suggestions.

This team, being considered by Deputy PM General Prawit Wongsuwan pending Prayut‘s final decision, will work with the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre (SBPAC) and the Internal Security Operations Command.

Its aim is to tackle unrest quickly and concretely using nine strategies, including peace talks with separatists. This will also help the public see that the government is giving importance to the southern unrest, Prayut said.

The PM also called on the media not to play up the claim by Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) of responsibility for the bombings in seven tourist destinations on August 11 and 12, as it would boost their credibility.

“Why didn’t they claim responsibility right after the attacks, as it is done in other parts of the world? When the media pressure the government, they [the separatists] use violence to counter that. That does not kill members of the media, but residents in the South,” he said.

Earlier, National Security Council secretary-general General Thaweep Netrniyom said people should not believe reports of BRN taking responsibility for the August bombings because the group normally never takes responsibility for attacks.

Meanwhile, deputy police chief Pol General Srivara Rangsipramanakul, who led the probe into the August bombings, said although the suspect in the Trang arson, Abdul-Kadae Salae, had links to unrest in the south, neither he nor five other suspects had been found to have ties with BRN or its military wing Runda Kumpulan Kecil. He said the six men were among 20 involved in the August attacks.

Bomb-making material – including two phones, three assembled circuits, eight relay switches and two gas canisters – were seized yesterday in Yaha in Yala. The materials could reportedly make up to five bombs.

Meanwhile, Cabinet yesterday approved the appointment of SBPAC deputy chief Supanat Sirantawineti |to succeed his boss Panu Uthairat, who will retire at the end this month, a government spokesman said.

Lt-Colonel Chalach Sriwichien, commander of the 47th Ranger Regiment’s Special Task Force, said this stemmed from the September 7 arrest of suspect Lahri Salae, 36.

Two previous raids under the regiment’s “Uyong-Sungae” plan had uncovered items including 3 gallons of urea fertilisers, along with four HK-33 rifles, one AK-47 rifle and one shotgun – the six guns that were allegedly used in previous attacks, he added.