YALA — More than a dozen bombs exploded in southern province of Yala on Thursday night, injuring at least 12 people.

The explosives were planted near several banks, a college campus, a train station, and other sites in the provincial capital’s commercial district. There were reportedly 17 blasts in total, not including the handful of unexploded devices that were found and dismantled by authorities. 

The injured are being treated at a hospital, and no fatalities have been reported so far. An 11-year-old boy was among the injured, but his injuries are minor, a nurse told the AP.

Lt.Gen. Prakarn Chollayuth, the commander of the Fourth Region army, said the bombs were an attempt to "harass" the public. 

"The perpetrators intended to encourage and boost eachother's morale," he said. "I would like the media to emphasize that these attacks affect Muslim people [too]. Some of the bombs whent off in histortic Muslim quarters."

Although the explosions themselves were relatively small, the incident was one of the most coordinated attacks to strike the Muslim-majority region in recent months.

Yala is one of three southern provinces near Malaysia that has been plagued by a bloody Islamic insurgency for the past decade. Daily violence is common in the region, known as the Deep South, though normally in the form of shootings and roadside bombs targeting military vehicles and Buddhist civilians. 

Experts say the insurgency, which aims to create an independent Muslim state, is mostly fueled by ethnic and religious differences. While the vast majority of Thailand is Buddhist, the Deep South is mostly populated by Malay Muslims who speak a distinct dialect and trace their ancestry back to the sultanate of Patani, which was annexed by Thailand in early 20th century.  

Although most of the estimated 6,200 casualties have died in attacks staged by insurgent groups, Thai authorities have also been criticized for using excessive violence and violating human rights in their effort to combat the secessionist campaign.

Police said a 28-year-old militant behind several major attacks in the region was killed in a shootout with authorities in Pattani this week. Two other suspected militants were arrested at the scene, police said. 

BANGKOK — Thailand's military leader said the government will not build permanent refugee centers for Rohingyas who have fled ethnic persecution in Myanmar.

"These people entered illegally," said junta chairman and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, referring to the nearly 300 migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh that police have found in the jungles of southern Thailand this week. The groups were abandoned by smugglers who presumably caught wind of the crackdown Thai authorities ordered on human traffickers in the beginning of the month.

"We need a place where we can detain them for legal prosecution, because there's only limited space now," Gen. Prayuth said, but clarified that "this will not be a permanent refugee center for ten or twenty years." 

The junta chairman stressed that setting up refugee centers would place a great financial strain on Thailand.

"We would have to use budget from Thai taxpayers to take care of them, would we not?" he asked reporters.

When a reporter asked whether Thailand could request financial assistance from the United Nations to build refugee centers, Gen. Prayuth replied, "Yes, I can. But will they give me the money? Are you the UN? I can ask them, but will they give it to me? Is it 100 percent [guaranteed]? Can I build the centers first and ask them later? Can you promise me on their behalf? If I cannot get the money, can I ask the money from your office? You act like you are the master of the world."

The crackdown in Thailand, a common pit stop for traffickers seeking to smuggle migrants into Malaysia, has spurred some boat captains to abandon their human cargo at sea. Human rights workers estimate that at least 8,000 migrants are currently stranded off shore, with no country in the region willing to take the desperate passengers in.  

Many of the migrants have been identified as Rohingya Muslims, a persecuted minority from western Myanmar. The others hail from impoverished Bangladesh, where an estimated 300,000 Rohingyas live in refugee camps.

The United Nations' refugee agency estimates that 25,000 people fled Myanmar and Bangladesh on boats in the first quarter of 2015, a number twice as high as the same period last year.

A spokesperson for Thailand's military government said the country's policy is provide food and fuel to ships headed for other countries, but that any migrants who arrive on Thai shores will be prosecuted with illegal entry. 

"We have given the Navy clear policy that if the refugees have an intention to land on the Thai coast, they are welcomed to do so, and we will give them humanitarian assistance, but we will treat them in accordance with laws about illegal entry into the country," said Maj.Gen. Sansern Kaewkamnerd.

Meanwhile, Muslim-majority Indonesia and Malaysia – the two most common destinations for Rohingya refugees – have both pushed away boats of migrants in recent days. 

Thailand has called for an international summit to address the mounting humanitarian crisis on 29 May, but the UN and other human rights agencies say action must be taken sooner, before the Andaman sea becomes a floating cemetery.

"The Thai, Malaysian, and Indonesian navies should stop playing a three-way game of human ping pong, and instead should work together to rescue all those on these ill-fated boats," said Phil Robertson, Human Rights Watch’s Asia Director. "The world will judge these governments by how they treat these most vulnerable men, women, and children."

Speaking to reporters today, Gen. Prayuth suggested that sensitive issues, such as the state-sanctioned discrimination that has driven tens of thousands of Rohingya to flee Myanmar, may be off the table during the 29 May summit.

"Some things can be said, but some other things should not be said," Gen. Prayuth said obliquely. "Our country has enough problems already. If we affect other people too much, we won't be able to ask for cooperation from them."

He continued, "If we say these things out loud – what about the other countries that keep silent? About human trafficking, Rohingya, fishing. Do they speak about it? They don't speak about it at all. But we keep fanning the issue. In the end, we will be the center of all the evil things in ASEAN." 

BANGKOK — A spokesperson for Thailand's military government said the refugees from Myanmar found by foreign reporters in the Andaman sea today will continue traveling to another country.

The boat, carrying around 300 people who identified themselves as Myanmar refugees, was spotted by reporters from the New York Times and BBC near Lipe island.

The passengers told reporters the captain and crew dismantled the ship’s engine before abandoning them to starve at sea. 

A boat of abandoned refugees from Myanmar found by reporters and naval officers off the coast of Satun province on 14 May 2015. [Photo: Royal Thai Navy]

Maj.Gen. Sansern Kaewkamnerd, a spokesperson of the Thai military government, said naval officers have provided the group with food and water and are currently repairing their boat.

According to Maj.Gen. Sansern, the refugees told Navy officers they intended to travel to another country, likely to be Malaysia or Indonesia, although the boat's passengers told the New York Times they had already been rejected by Malaysian authorities.

"We have given the Navy clear policy that if the refugees have an intention to land on the Thai coast, they are welcome to do so, and we will give them humanitarian assistance, but we will treat them in accordance with laws about illegal entry into the country," Maj.Gen. Sansern said.

"Once ships from the Third Region Navy inspected the boat and asked about the refugees’ intentions, we discovered that none of them intended to land on the Thai coast." 

He added, "I expect that the engine repair of the refugee boat will be completed tonight. They will be able to continue their journey as they wish." 

KUALA LUMPUR (DPA) — Malaysia has strengthened its sea patrols and begun blocking boats suspected of carrying illegal migrants, a senior official said Thursday, amid an influx of arrivals from Myanmar and Bangladesh.

"Vessels carrying illegal migrants will not be allowed to enter Malaysian waters," the director general of Malaysia's Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), Amdan Kurish, told a press briefing.

A traditional Thai style fishing boat which was used by Myanmar Rohingya refugees, stranded in Seunedon village of North Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia, 11 May 2015. EPA/STR

The intensified sea patrols, enacted Tuesday, come after more than 1,000 Myanmar Rohingya and Bangladeshi landed in the northern island of Langkawi earlier in the week.

Amdan said there were persistent reports that more vessels carrying Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants were heading for Malaysia.

Maritime officials declined to confirm media reports that two vessels carrying hundreds of Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants that attempted to land in the northern islands of Penang and Langkawi were turned back to the sea late Wednesday.

But Zafar Ahmad, president of the Myanmar Rohingyas Human Rights Organization in Malaysia, said he got it from reliable sources that two vessels were turned back by Malaysian authorities late Wednesday.

"We do know what happened to those vessels now," he told dpa by telephone.

Malaysia's Foreign Ministry was set to make a statement about the migrant arrivals after talks with "relevant countries, including Myanmar Indonesia and Thailand," according to deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

"This is a matter that is related to the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and comes under the responsibility of the Myanmar government," the state-run Bernama news agency quoted him as saying.

(Reporting by John Grafilo)