The government at first blamed the attacks on "bandits," and many outside observers do believe that local clan, commercial or criminal rivalries did play a part in the violence. In 2002, Thaksin stated, "There's no separatism, no ideological terrorists, just common bandits." By 2004, however, he had reversed his position and came to regard the insurgency as a local front in the global War on Terrorism. Martial law was instituted in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat in January 2004.[210]