lie on the ground. Their hands were tied behind their backs. Later that afternoon, they were thrown by soldiers into trucks to be taken to the Ingkayutthaboriharn army camp in the nearby province of Pattani. The prisoners were stacked five or six deep in the trucks, and by the time the trucks reached their destination five hours later, in the heat of the day, 78 men had died of suffocation. This incident sparked widespread protests across the south, and across Thailand, as even non-Muslim Thais were appalled at the army's behaviour. Thaksin, however, gave the army his full support. Those responsible for the ill-treatment and death of the detainees received the most minor of non-custodial punishments. Thaksin's initial response was to defend the army's actions, saying that the 78 men died "because they were already weak from fasting during the month of Ramadan". Charges were filed against 58 suspects accused of participating in the demonstration. However, the case was dropped in November 2006 as it would not be good for the public and "might affect national security". On 2 November 2006, then Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont gave a formal apology for the incident. This caused a large rise in violent incidents the next day. 2009 Thailand standoff This standoff between insurgents and Thai police and military took place in Yala, Thailand on 27 June 2009 at 7:55 am local time. A combined force of 200 district police officers and soldiers of Taskforce 15 sealed off a house in the Bannang Sata district of Yala province after locals tipped them of the presence of separatist militants. As police and the army stormed the building, militants holed up inside opened fire, killing Sgt Maj Pongsathorn Niraphai of the Bannang Sata police station and Sergeant Major 3rd Class Sangsun Kalong, 39, a soldier. A suspected militant, Sopepun Buenae, 26 was killed when he tried to escape. At least two rebels managed to escape despite being cornered for nearly 5 hours. During the preceding weeks, attacks by separatists had increased; 41 people were killed and 60 wounded in June alone. Earlier in June, masked gunmen killed 11 worshippers in a mosque in the Narathiwat province. The incident, which also wounded 12 people was considered as one of the worst attacks in 5 years. A$5,900 reward for leads on the attack was announced. Reconciliation and negotiation Negotiation attempts Attempts to negotiate with insurgents were hampered