Two killed as attacks continue in southern Thailand

[News_Editor]

Two killed as attacks continue in southern Thailand

2011-06-23 05:32:51 GMT+7 (ICT)

YALA, THAILAND (BNO NEWS) -- Two people were killed on Wednesday as violent attacks continue in restive southern Thailand, the Bangkok Post reported.

A former assistant village chief was murdered on Wednesday morning in Raman district of Yala province. Raman police station deputy chief Ampai Chumchuay said the 37-year-old man was shot dead by a motorcycle gunman. His wife told police that he was on his way to his rubber plantation on a motorcycle when a gunman on another motorcycle attacked him.

In a separate attack in Raman district, a cooking teacher was killed in a drive-by shooting last night. According to police, two men on a motorcycle attacked a 48-year-old man as he was returning home from the market on a motorcycle.

Police were investigating whether the attack was the result of personal conflict or the work of southern separatist bandits.

On Monday, a local leader and canvasser for the Democrat Party was shot dead and his wife seriously wounded in Yala. Police believed the attack might have been politically motivated, but they had not ruled out the possibility of southern insurgents having committed the murder.

Meanwhile, a traffic policeman and a villager were also killed on Monday in separate attacks by suspected militants in Pattani province.

Since 2004, around 4,300 people have been killed in Thailand's southern regions of Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat, as local insurgent groups renewed their fighting efforts against the government. More than 7,000 people have been injured in violent incidents launched by separatist militants.

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