A secretive armed group engaged in the bloody separatist conflict in southern Thailand has told Al Jazeera that it will not compromise on seeking independence for the largely Muslim area.

Speaking to Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen at a location outside Thailand, a senior member of the National Revolutionary Front Co-ordinate (BRN-C) said the group’s main aim was “to fight for independence through an armed revolution”.

“Our main aim is not war but we are forced into this because without violence Siam [Thailand] will never stop discriminating against the Malay people in the south,” he said on condition of anonymity.

More than 3,500 people have been killed in the conflict since simmering tensions over rule by Buddhist-majority Thailand flared in 2004.

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At least 6 people were killed and more others injured in north and south of Mogadishu, witnesses told Shabelle radio on Tuesday.

Heavy fighting between the Islamist clerics of Ahlu Sunna Walajama’a and Harkat al-Shabaab Mujahideen forces started between Dabka and Bakara intersections in Mogadishu, killing 4 civilians, wounding several others there.

On the other hand 5 people were killed and 16 others including several journalists were wounded in north Mogadishu as fighting and heavy shelling between both rivals continued.

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Insurgents have attacked Nato forces in eastern Afghanistan.

Several attackers were killed in the Taliban attack on a base at an airfield outside Jalalabad, near the border with Pakistan.

Gunmen set off a car bomb and fired rocket-propelled grenades, and wounding two soldiers, Nato said.

The attack came a day after US Gen David Petraeus warned of an “industrial strength insurgency” in the country.

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Somalia’s Al Qaeda-inspired al-Shabaab warned voters in the northern self-proclaimed state of Somaliland not to vote in the presidential elections, in an audio message obtained by AFP Friday.

“Those who take part in those so-called elections will face the consequences,” Ahmed Abdi Godane, the overall leader of the al-Shabaab group, said in the message released ahead of Somaliland’s Saturday polls.

Godane, also known as “Abu Zubayr” and a native of the Somaliland capital Hargeisa, said the elections were organised by the anti-Islamic forces in Somalia.

Somaliland’s presidential polls, which were delayed three times since 2008, are due to go ahead on Saturday, 50 years to the day after the territory obtained its independence from Britain.

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A senior Indian army officer has been killed in a gun battle with separatist militants in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Colonel Neeraj Sood was “leading his troops” when he was gunned down by militants in Lolab area, the army said.

He is the highest ranking officer to be killed by militants in Kashmir in 2010.

Despite a decline in violence in Kashmir in recent years, there are fears that militants are trying to regroup in the region.

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Gun fights between Somali government troops and Islamist rebels in the capital Mogadishu has killed 20 people, including more than a dozen civilians, officials said on Saturday.

The clashes took place after heavily-armed, al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab insurgents attacked a government military base in Dharkenley district, south of the capital on Friday. The fighting was over by the end of the day.

“We pushed them back and killed 13 of al Shabaab’s fighters. We are still at our bases,” Abdiazis Ali, a senior Somali military officer, told Reuters.

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One hundred and thirty kurds killed since march to today: it’s the balance of operations of turkey armed forces in territories where Pkk has own bases, in Turkey and north Iraq: has announced it an official military turkish. Army has had also losses: 43 soldiers has lost life during fights.

Friday last episode: three “rebels” of separatist Kurdistan Workers Party have been killed by army in turkish province of Erzincan.

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