Five people, including an army ranger, were shot dead by suspected Islamic separatists on Thursday in a spate of attacks in Thailand's Muslim-majority south, police said. The killings highlighted the almost daily violence in the troubled region where a separatist insurgency since early 2004 has left over 2,600 people dead.
A 42-year-old Muslim army ranger was shot dead in an ambush in Narathiwat, one of three restive provinces bordering Malaysia, police said, adding that an elderly Muslim man was also gunned down at a market in the province. A 44-year-old Muslim man who belonged to a volunteer village defence force was shot dead in an ambush in Narathiwat earlier in the day.
In neighbouring Pattani, two Buddhist men aged 41 and 65 were killed in separate drive-by shootings. The restive Muslim-majority region was annexed by mainly Buddhist Thailand a century ago and separatist tensions have simmered since.