If you guessed Iraq. Or Pakistan - you guessed wrong!

Guess where this is:

In all 32 people and three militants were killed, and 94 were wounded. There were 23 IEDs detonated and three defused. A bomb in ******* killed four and wounded 26. Five soldiers on teacher protection detail were wounded when a bomb hidden in the ceiling panel of the teacher’s room was detonated. Seven soldiers on teacher patrols were killed by a bomb or shot by insurgents after being thrown from their vehicle. In other roadside IED incidents, a total of ten bombs wounded six soldiers, nine police and six rangers. Several bombs had no casualties. In one instance, a second IED was placed to target first responders. In another incident an IED was placed en route to the scene where a family of four was shot dead; four police were wounded. Most of the victims were killed by gunshot, including, four headmen, 14 civilians, and a female ranger. Other security forces came under fire, wounding, two border patrol police, three police and several soldiers, and one village defense volunteer. In one instance, suspected militants opened fire on a teashop killing a woman, wounding a police and a civilian; and in another case militants opened fire on a “pickup truck school bus” wounding two, including a student. In one of the more planned ambushes, a 10-man police convoy for teachers was ambushed, wounding one, and a roadside IED placed for the group of soldiers coming as reinforcements, detonated wounding one. In other violence, there were grenade attacks on a mosque and a teashop, wounding six civilians. One civilian was hacked to death and his corpse burnt; another civilian was shot, before his body was burnt. Two schools and a sub-district office were arsoned and train tracks were sabotaged: between 55-65 bolts were removed.


No, it's not Baquba or Baghdad, Fallujah or Tikrit. It's a week in Southern Thailand.

Okay, here's another one. Guess where this is?

On 4 July, 11 suspected militants were arrested during a raid at the ********** Islamic School, in ******** district. Some 600-700 students tried to block the security forces from entering the compound. Some 108 items, including gun and bomb-making materials were seized. Several days later, authorities shut down the school.

No, it's not another radical madrassa in Pakistan ala the Red Mosque. It's Islam Burapha Islamic School, in Narathiwat’s Muang district, only five kilometers away from the Taksin Royal Palace.

About King Taksin (and if I were the short, bearded one in the Members Only jacket I just might want to read this).

The fate of King Taksin is often left undiscussed by online histories. The few online documents that look at the causes of King Taksin's downfall attribute his problems to mental health. Evidently King Taksin began to believe that he was a second incarnation of Buddha. He stopped governing the country and removed himself to a monastry. The ensuing chaos as government broke down led to riots. The execution took place on April 6, 1782. King Taksin was 48 years old and had been king for 15 years.

How do they execute a Thai King?

"(King Taksin) was deposed by his ministers, who then executed him in the custom reserved for royalty -- by shackling his hands and feet with gold restraints, sewing him into a velvet sack so that no royal blood touched the ground, then beating him to death with a sandalwood club.