Deputy Governor Ambushed In South Thailand

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BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Suspected Islamic insurgents shot and wounded a deputy provincial governor and attacked a municipal official with an ax in separate incidents Tuesday in Thailand's predominantly Muslim south, where sectarian violence has left hundreds dead this year.

Soonthorn Rittipakdee, deputy governor for Pattani province, was ambushed while visiting an area where an assistant village chief and a security guard were shot and wounded late Monday, said police Col. Suthon Ditbuth.

His condition was stable after surgeons removed a bullet from his stomach, doctors said, but that of a city official who was bludgeoned with an ax 60 kilometers (37 miles) away was serious.

The attacks were the latest in a recent upswing of violence blamed on suspected Islamic separatists in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat - the only Muslim-majority provinces in this largely Buddhist country.

At least 540 people have been killed in the area since January.

Soonthorn - the most senior official attacked since a Pattani judge was killed in September - was shot by a group of gunmen apparently hiding by the roadside when he arrived at the scene of Monday's shooting in the province's Yaring district.

The victims in that attack were shot while driving home after finishing guard duty at a school.

Dr.Pornchit Chantaratsami, director of Pattani Hospital, said Soonthorn was transferred to a hospital in nearby Songkhla province following his operation Tuesday.

Interior Minister Bhokin Bhalakula was expected to visit him there later in the day.

Separately, unidentified assailants opened fire on a policeman while he was driving a pickup truck in Pattani's Saiburi district, hitting the vehicle three times as the officer - who was unhurt - sped away, said Col. Somsak Wannawak.

Southern insurgents waged a low-key campaign against the central government for decades before largely dissolving after an amnesty in the 1980s.

Muslims in the far south have long voiced grievances about discrimination, mainly in jobs and education.

The government has been accused of creating divisions between Muslims and Buddhists in the area by taking a forceful approach.

Last month, at least 85 Muslims died after security forces dispersed a protest in Narathiwat province. Most of the victims suffocated or were crushed after being stacked into military trucks.

Pichet Sunthornpipit, the chairman of a special panel assigned to investigate the incident, said the probe would be completed within 45 days. - AP