Insurgents kill ex-official, wound friend

(BangkokPost.com) - Four insurgents attacked and shot dead a former government officer while also critically wounding his friend in Narathiwat on Saturday morning.

Ding Badoe, 50, was gunned down while was sipping tea with his friend at his residence in Chanae district.

Ding was shot in the chest and died instantly. His friend, who was shot in the neck and cheek, was rushed to Narathiwat Ratchanakarin hospital.

The attack took place following yesterday's ambush of soldiers in Yala, which left seven soldiers killed.

The Post Publishing Public Co

Four shot dead in Thai Muslim south

June 16, 2007 : Last updated 01:44 pm (Thai local time)

NARATHIWAT - Insurgents killed four people in separate shootings in Thailand's restive Muslim-majority south, police said Saturday.

A Muslim man was gunned down at his home on Saturday in Narathiwat, one of three insurgency-hit provinces bordering Malaysia, police said.

Another Muslim man was killed in a drive-by shooting late Friday in Narathiwat, while a 33-year-old Buddhist was shot dead by rebels at a tea house in neighboring Pattani late Friday.

Also in Pattani, a 20-year-old Muslim man was killed in a drive by shooting Friday evening, police said.

The latest shootings come after Islamic rebels ambushed and shot dead seven soldiers Friday in one of the deadliest attacks this year on security forces in the south.

More than 2,200 people have been killed and thousands more wounded in separatist violence that erupted in the south in January 2004.

The violence has continued despite peace-building measures by the military-installed government, which came to power following a coup in September last year.

Agence France-Presse