A total of 4.4 million Malaysians crossed the border last year, making the country Thailand’s largest inbound tourism market
3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenUshar DanielePublished: 1:58pm, 30 Jun 2026Security around the Malaysia-Thailand border has been tightened after two Malaysian men were wounded in a roadside bomb blast in Narathiwat province, an area riven by a deadly insurgency against Bangkok.While police say the men – Abdullah Syarapi Abd Rahman, 45, and Muhammad Yusri Udin, 38, both from Kelantan – are not believed to have been the target of the improvised explosive device (IED), the incident highlights the dangers of the ongoing conflict in Thailand’s southernmost provinces.
Several thousand people – civilians, rebels and Thai security forces – have died in the last two decades in the Malay-Muslim majority south, in near daily shootings, ambushes and bomb attacks that rarely garner international headlines.
Monday’s blast, which happened at around 11.45am near the Thai town of Tak Bai just 15km (nine miles) from the border with Kelantan, hit the car the men were travelling in, which had Malaysian number plates.
The pair were discharged from Rajanagarindra Hospital in Narathiwat and returned home on Tuesday, Malaysia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
