Six Dead, 10 Wounded In Troubled Thai South

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Six dead, 10 wounded in troubled Thai south: police

NARATHIWAT: -- (AFP) - Six people were shot dead by suspected militants and 10 police officers were wounded by a roadside bomb Thursday in the latest attacks in Thailand's restive south, police said.

Police were responding to a report of a number of villagers killed in the Bacho district of Narathiwat province when their vehicle was struck by the blast.

Six villagers who had been out hunting were later found shot dead by suspected militants.

A six-year separatist insurgency in Thailand's restive Muslim-majority southern provinces bordering Malaysia has left more than 4,000 people dead and thousands more wounded.

The shadowy militant groups never publicly state their goals but have targeted Buddhists and Muslims, civilians and security forces in their often gruesome 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.

-- ©Copyright AFP 2010-04-01

Published with written approval from AFP.

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