February 22, 201016 yr Militants in drag kill two Thai police NARATHIWAT: -- (AFP) - Suspected Islamic militants, some of them dressed in women's clothing, shot dead two policemen Monday in Thailand's troubled Muslim-majority south, police said. More than 4,100 people have died in shootings, bomb blasts, burnings and crucifixions during a six-year separatist insurgency in Thailand's southernmost provinces bordering Malaysia. Four militants riding on two motorcycles -- two wearing Muslim women's dress and two wearing fake army uniforms -- opened fire on the policemen who were guarding a gold shop in Narathiwat province, said police. Both police officers died on the way to hospital. The shadowy militant groups operating in the Thai south never publicly state their goals but have targeted Buddhists and Muslims, civilians and security forces, in their campaign against central government control. The region was an autonomous Malay Muslim sultanate until it was annexed in 1902 by mainly Buddhist Thailand and tensions have bubbled there ever since, escalating into the current insurgency in January 2004. Rights groups have accused the tens of thousands of Thai security forces stationed in the region of abuses against the Muslim population. -- ©Copyright AFP 2010-02-22 Published with written approval from AFP. [newsfooter][/newsfooter]
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