Yesterday, BP blogged about a Buddhist family of 4 being killed in Thailand’s Deep South and details of Buddhists being killed in the Deep South in symbolic and often very violent attacks. Today, AP reports 5 more Buddhists were killed in Pattani Province:

Pol. Col. Wanlop Jamnong-arsa said a half dozen gunmen in a pickup truck opened fire at the shop, a popular place for residents to congregate, and then fled. Three men and two women were killed and a man and a boy were injured, he said.

All were identified as Buddhists and the gunmen were believed to be Muslim insurgents, he said.

BP: Of course, as just blogged about earlier today, the Muslims make up a majority of the deaths over the last years although Buddhists die in greater numbers in proportion to their population size (Buddhists make up about 20% of the population) and AFP has details of another separate incident today in Pattani where a Muslim man was killed.

Based on anecdotal evidence there has been an increase in the number of deaths over the last 30 days, but also in the number of people killed in individual incidents. It will take a few months to look at statistics and trend lines, but by just adding up half a dozen recent incidents the numbers are likely to be trending upwards as of January 2011. Is this just a blip? Or a sign of increased intensity in the violence?