PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS CONVERTED 4:3 MATERIAL<br/> <br />(ROUGH CUT ONLY - NO REPORTER NARRATION)<br/> <br />Thai soldiers killed at least 17 Muslim insurgents who attacked a military base in a pre-dawn raid in the country's turbulent south, authorities said on Wednesday (February 13).<br/> <br />The attack on a marine base in Bacho was the deadliest violence since the long-simmering conflict flared nine years ago.<br/> <br />The gun battle between soldiers and about 60 insurgents in Narathiwat on the Malaysian border is the latest in a series of attacks pushing Thailand's three southernmost provinces to a crisis point after years of bloodshed.<br/> <br />It illustrates the difficulty Buddhist-majority Thailand faces in preventing the low-intensity insurgency from turning into a much more dangerous conflict at a time when it is showcasing to investors a resurgent economy and buoyant stock market, Asia's best performer in 2012 with a 36 percent rise.<br/> <br />Although there is no indication of violence spreading beyond the provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, just a few hours by car from some of Thailand's most popular tourist beaches, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra appears powerless to quell the almost daily gun fights and bomb attacks.<br/> <br />Authorities said 16 rifles and two pick-up trucks apparently belonging to the insurgents were seized.<br/> <br />It was the biggest death toll since security forces stormed the Krue Se mosque in southern Thailand in 2004, killing 32 Muslims in a raid that caused an intensification of the insurgency.
