A Buddhist restaurant owner makes chicken noodles after putting up an aluminium net to prevent insurgents from hurling an explosive into the outdoor open-air restaurant in southern Thailand's Yala province, south of Bangkok. Restaurants in downtown Yala province, one of the three Muslim-dominated provinces in the largely Buddhist country, were targeted in two bomb attacks last month which killed 2 people and wounded 30 others. More than 4,000 people, both Muslim and Buddhists, have been killed since the insurgency flared in early 2004. (Reuters)

A Buddhist restaurant owner stands near aluminium netting put up to prevent insurgents from hurling explosives into the outdoor open-air food stall in southern Thailand's Yala province, south of Bangkok. (Reuters)