 The Thai government deployed over 12,000 troops to the country's northern provinces in January 1972, carrying out a six-week operation in which over 200 militants were killed.The government's casualties during the operation amounted to 30 soldiers killed and 100 wounded.In late-1972, the Royal Thai Army, police, and volunteer defence forces commit the Red Drum killings of more than 200 (informal accounts speak of up to 3,000) civilians who were accused of supporting communists in Tambon Lam Sai, Phatthalung Province, southern Thailand.