The Gerakan Mujahedin Islam Pattani (GMIP), or Pattani Islamic Mujahedin Movement.

The GMIP operates in the southern Muslim-dominated provinces of Thailand, usually in rural areas. The GMIP also organizes and seeks refuge in northern Malaysia.

GMIP's goal, similar to several other Thai insurgency groups, is to create an independent Muslim state in southern Thailand.

GMIP is estimated to have about 40 cell leaders in the south, though the size of the cells is unknown.

Malaysia serves as an important base of support for Bersatu-connected separatists (see separate records) such as GMIP, allowing insurgents a refuge in which to regroup. Bersatu members share a common culture, religion and family connections that extend across the border. The Malaysian government does not strenuously pursue suspected Bersatu militants on its territory, though it does provide some cooperation on security issues with Thailand.

The GMIP derives some of its strength (or at least notoriety) from the leadership of veterans from the Afghan war. It has close ties to the Kumpulan Mujahideen Malaysia (Malaysian Mujahideen Group, KMM), founded by another Afghan veteran, Zainon Ismail, who also supported the GMIP. Nik Adli Nik Aziz, a former leader of the KMM, trained with Nasori Saeseng (GMIP's founder) in Afghanistan.

Links to Islamic jihadist terrorist groups are often asserted, but definite examples of cooperation are difficult to prove (see Overview).

For most of the 1990s, the GMIP operated primarily as a criminal gang, running guns for Muslim insurgent groups including the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). Other activities included kidnapping, extortion and contract killings.

After 2002, the group took a more serious bent, targeting military convoys with roadside improvised explosive devices, rural police and military outposts. In recent years, GMIP has resorted to attacking armories.

The GMIP was founded in 1986 by Wae-Hama Wae-Yuso. However, internal fighting led to the breakup of the group by 1993. In 1995, Nasori Saesaeng (Awae Kaelae), Jehku Mae Kuteh (aka Doromae Kuteh or Kumae Kuteh), Nasae Saning and some other veterans from Afghanistan reorganized the group. Since then, two of the founders have been apprehended by security forces: Nasae Saning was shot in 2003 and Kuteh was captured by Malaysian security forces in 2005.

The GMIP mainly operates in rural areas, which some attribute to its lack of popular support and weakness as an organization. Some of GMIP's members studied in Saudi Arabia or fought in Afghanistan, giving the group a Wahhabist veneer, but overall the group remains a small criminal organization.

There is more evidence of GMIP connections to international jihadism than is the case with other Thai insurgency groups. From 1999-2000, Jemaah Islamiya attempted to develop ties with GMIP. After the Sep. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, GMIP spread leaflets in Yala calling for a jihad in support of Osama bin Laden. In January 2004, Gen. Kitti Rattanachaya, a former Thai army commander in the south, said that GMIP had links to both Al-Qaida and Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiya.

The GMIP stepped up operations in early 2002, attacking police and army outposts to steal weapons in the southern provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani. Between 2002 and 2004, the group was held responsible for the deaths of 40 police officers, according to Thai intelligence sources.

Karim Karubang (Doromae Lohmae) -- a GMIP leader -- is believed to have led the raid on Jan. 4, 2004, that escalated the southern insurgency in Thailand.

Thailand adopted a number of measures in 2009 to deal with transnational terrorism and insurgent activity in the southern part of the country. The major effort to control GMIP and other militant groups continues to be run by Thailand's army and security forces.

Top leader Awae Kaelaeinfiltrated southern Thailand from a foreign hideout, according to reports in August 2009, to oversee a new campaign of violence in urban areas.

Jan. 5: Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra declared martial law in Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala provinces. Defense Minister Thamarak Isarangura authorized Lt. Gen. Phongsak Aekbansingha to place six districts in Narathiwat, three districts in Yala and four districts in Pattani under martial law.

October: Representatives from the five main Muslim insurgent groups in Thailand met secretly with senior Thai military and intelligence officers in Langkawi, Malaysia, to develop a peace plan for southern Thailand. The conference was mediated by former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad as well as members of his non-governmental organization Perdana Global Peace Organization.

November: The death toll due to the insurgency, since ramped-up violence began in January 2004, reached 1,000.

Dec. 21: Talks between military officials and insurgents (begun in October 2005) were said to be stuck over the creation of an independent tribunal to try army officers for alleged human-rights violations and the granting of amnesty to all insurgents. There were also published reports of new talks to be held in Brunei.

Dec. 23: Chief of Staff Montri Sangkhasap said the Thai army would deploy an additional 10 companies of paratroopers to Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, Songkhla and Satun in January 2007 and 20 more companies in April to combat the southern insurgency.

January: Thailand became a signatory to the ASEAN convention on counterterrorism.

June: Thai security forces began more intensive operations to control militants, including the arrest or detention of persons suspected of associating with insurgents.

October: Gen. Anupong Paochinda, the newly appointed commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Army, reorganized security forces operating in the south to ensure better coordination. The general set up a four year plan designed to bring the insurgency situation under control by the end of 2009. In the initial phase the military was to concentrate on breaking up insurgency networks and controlling violence. The second phase would involve rehabilitating communities and economic development.

March: Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej met with Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi to discuss cooperation on measures to improve security in the mutual border area.

September: Thailand agreed to conduct joint sea and air patrols of the Malacca Strait with Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. The agreement included eyes in the sky and intelligence exchange programs.

October: Thailand's Internal Security Operations Command reported that violence had abated in the south following security operations, with 1,304 attacks reported from October 2007 to September 2008, compared with 2,774 recorded over the same period the previous year.

Aug. 29: Local reports indicated that GMIP leader Awae Kaelae had entered the southern provinces from overseas to oversee a new campaign of violence in urban and village areas.