Four shot dead in wave of violence in south Thailand
At least four people have been shot and killed in a series of violent incidents across Thailand's southernmost provinces over the past 24 hours, security sources say.
In the first incident, a senior local police official said that Chatchai Saethong, a Buddhist rubber tapper, was assassinated early Thursday in the Yaha district of the volatile Yala province, which borders Malaysia.
"His body was set on fire and left charred," local police Colonel Praponwat Khantiwaranant said.
According to a separate police statement, an hour later, a Muslim paramilitary trooper was gunned down in a neighboring district of the same province.
This came after two Muslim civilians were shot dead in the troubled region on Wednesday.
No group has claimed responsibility for the latest deadly attacks, but Bangkok blames such incidents on the insurgents active in the violence-wracked south.
On February 27, a car bomb detonated outside a city police station in the restive southern province of Pattani injured at least seven people.
Also on November 12 last year, at least four people were killed and four others injured in a bomb attack at a checkpoint in the same province.
Three provinces in southern Thailand, namely Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, have faced an insurgency since 2004. The violence occasionally spills into the province of Songkhla as well.
Rebels fighting for greater autonomy often target perceived collaborators with the Thai government. Muslims and Buddhist civilians have fallen victim to their near-daily shootings or bomb attacks.
The violence appears to bubble up despite the ruling junta trumpeting peace efforts to end the complex and bloody conflict.
The Thai government held several rounds of talks with rebel leaders to end the conflict in the region. The talks, however, mainly stalled because of internal disagreement within both sides.
Several insurgent groups are fighting the Thai government for more autonomy for the ethnically-Malay region there. More than 6,500 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the conflict.
Thailand annexed the culturally distinct region more than 100 years ago.
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