Suspected rebels have killed five people in Thailand's troubled south, police said Thursday, highlighting ongoing violence in the region as the Thai premier wrapped up a two-day visit. Police said they found the body of an unidentified man, who had been shot and set alight, under a bridge in Narathiwat province early Thursday morning.
Elsewhere in Narathiwat on Thursday, two Buddhists - a 68-year-old man and a 64-year-old woman - were killed in a drive-by shooting on their way to a market, local police said.
Authorities in Pattani province later discovered the body of a 29-year-old Muslim man floating in a river with his throat slashed. On Wednesday, a 58-year-old Muslim village chief was shot and killed as he tended his garden, a Pattani police report said. More than 2,300 people have been killed in separatist violence in the Muslim-majority south since an insurgency erupted in January 2004.
Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont spent Wednesday night in Yala province in a so-called "red zone" - a hotspot for militant activity - and on Thursday met with local officials in Pattani.
As he prepared to leave for Bangkok on Thursday, he called on Muslims and Buddhists to work together to end the violence. "Mistrust between Buddhists and Muslims still exists, but we have to get rid of this ill feeling," Surayud told reporters.