SRT resumes rail service despite violence

BANGKOK, June 27 (UPI) -- Five days after suspending railway services because of militants' violence, Thai rail officials have resumed services to the country's three southern provinces.

State Railway of Thailand officials on Friday announced the resumed service to the southern provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani, where a militant Islamic group has been working to create an independent Muslim state.

The announcement of rail services to Thailand's southernmost provinces on the border with Malaysia follows a suspension of services Monday after four people were killed in an attack on a train Saturday by suspected Muslim rebels, Adnkronos reported.

During the attack, 10 gunmen killed a police officer and three railway employees in the engineer's cabin of a train traveling near Sungai Kolok in Yala province.

After services were halted, State Railway of Thailand officials said train service would resume only after appropriate security measures had been implemented.

"The authorities have assigned additional security personnel in the trains and in the stations," Thanongsak Pongprasert, State Railway of Thailand director of the southern section, said in a statement, according to Adnkronos.