BANGKOK, Thailand (Reuters) -- Motorcycle-borne gunmen have shot and killed a martial arts teacher in Thailand's restive Muslim south, the latest Buddhist killed in apparent revenge for the deaths of 85 Muslims, police said.

Hiran Kongcharoen, a 45-year-old kick-boxing teacher at a school in Yala province, was shot in the head and knee on Friday as he was returning home from a funeral in the neighboring province of Pattani and died in hospital, they said.

"I've asked his wife and she insisted that he did not have any conflict with anyone," an investigator told Reuters.

"We now suspect the killing was motivated by the recent violence."

He was referring to the seven people shot dead by security forces during a rally at Tak Bai police station in the nearby province of Narathiwat and 78 protesters who died after being detained, most from suffocation in crammed army trucks.

At least 27 people, almost all of them Buddhists and two of them beheaded, have been killed since the Oct. 25 Tak Bai deaths, which prompted warnings from Muslim clerics and analysts that the "massacre" could trigger reprisal attacks.

Almost 500 people have died in the south since violence in the Malay-speaking region erupted on Jan. 4, when gunmen killed four soldiers in a raid on an army camp and made off with more than 300 M-16 assault rifles.

BANGKOK, Thailand (Reuters) -- Motorcycle-borne gunmen have shot and killed a martial arts teacher in Thailand's restive Muslim south, the latest Buddhist killed in apparent revenge for the deaths of 85 Muslims, police said.

Hiran Kongcharoen, a 45-year-old kick-boxing teacher at a school in Yala province, was shot in the head and knee on Friday as he was returning home from a funeral in the neighboring province of Pattani and died in hospital, they said.

"I've asked his wife and she insisted that he did not have any conflict with anyone," an investigator told Reuters.

"We now suspect the killing was motivated by the recent violence."

He was referring to the seven people shot dead by security forces during a rally at Tak Bai police station in the nearby province of Narathiwat and 78 protesters who died after being detained, most from suffocation in crammed army trucks.

At least 27 people, almost all of them Buddhists and two of them beheaded, have been killed since the Oct. 25 Tak Bai deaths, which prompted warnings from Muslim clerics and analysts that the "massacre" could trigger reprisal attacks.

Almost 500 people have died in the south since violence in the Malay-speaking region erupted on Jan. 4, when gunmen killed four soldiers in a raid on an army camp and made off with more than 300 M-16 assault rifles.

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The Thai gov't will have to find a delicate balance in dealing with the rebellion down south. Too harsh and you create martyrs and aid recruiting of more terrorists. Too little effort and you will never have control of the muslim areas. We will see if they are up to the task.