It has become obvious the insurgents are continuing to refine their guerrilla tactics to launch multiple assaults involving improvised explosive devices, roadside ambushes and various acts of sabotage in places and times of their own choosing. They are virtually unopposed by the armed forces that have maintained a heavy presence in the strife-torn region since the outbreak of violence in early 2004. Since then, some 2,000 people have been killed, mostly by rebels hell bent on carving out an independent homeland for Muslim people who form the overwhelming majority in the Malay-speaking region.

As in previous attacks, the security forces - which had been put on a state of high alert following the publication earlier this month of intelligence reports of imminent terrorist attacks - could do little to prevent them from happening.

Granted, it is difficult for the security forces to prevent such attacks; the insurgents are determined and they operate in small cells that have infiltrated many villages and communities. But the overall failure of the authorities to act on tip-offs, to intercept plots and to take pre-emptive measures to arrest suspects before they strike suggests a serious inability to analyse available data - or even accurate intelligence - and come up with effective ways to combat the insurgents.

What is becoming more obvious is that troops in the combat zone have not been given clear rules of engagement to fight the insurgents while at the same time making sure that no unarmed civilians get caught in the crossfire.

What the Surayud administration and its military guardian, the Council for National Security, have been doing since they came to power is repeating the mantra of reconciliation - even as the insurgents intensify their campaign of terror with the express purpose of intimidating local people into not cooperating with the security forces. Worse, the authorities have also been sending confusing signals by hinting at the possibility of peace negotiations with various groups of separatists.

The government and the military are walking a dangerous path. Promoting reconciliation between peace-loving, law-abiding Thai citizens of Malay descent in the deep South and the rest of mainstream Thai society should be supported by all citizens of this country. But an offer to negotiate with brutal insurgents who are actively waging a secessionist war against the Thai state and indiscriminately butchering innocent civilians on a daily basis is quite another.

The priority for the government and the armed forces is not to avoid engaging the insurgents at all costs. It is a mistake to allow the insurgents to have total freedom of movement to infiltrate communities, to manufacture bombs, to kill and maim and then escape justice by hiding among civilians.

These cruel and hate-filled insurgents must be separated from civilians, even if that means security forces having to go searching for them door-to-door in communities known to have been infiltrated.

In the three years since the outbreak of the insurgency, law enforcement officials have been able to file charges against only a very small number of suspected insurgents, and only a dozen of those cases have found their way to the Court of Justice. Thousands of other atrocities have been committed by insurgents since January 2004 and in nearly all of these cases the perpetrators have managed to hide beyond the reach of the law.

The only way the government and security forces can make progress is to effectively combat insurgents to protect innocent people. A semblance of law and order must be restored. Reconciliation and peace can only be achieved when people have been assured that the government and the security forces are capable of defeating the insurgents and guaranteeing civilians' safety.