Five Muslim men were shot and killed in a series of insurgency attacks and a gunbattle with government security forces in southern Thailand, police said today.
More than 4,000 people, both Muslims and Buddhists, have been killed in six years of unrest blamed on separatist insurgents in the Muslim-dominated region bordering Malaysia.
In Yala province, a 26-year-old village volunteer was shot dead in a drive-by shooting as he was travelling home on a motorcycle on yesterday evening, Police Lieutenant Issara Jantarapayom said, blaming the attack on militants bent on attacking Muslims who work for the government.
In a separate attack in the same province, a suspected insurgent was fatally shot in a gunbattle with security forces late last night, he said.
In the neighbouring province of Narathiwat, a 50-year-old villager was shot dead at his home. In two drive-by shootings in Pattani province, two Muslims were killed last night, according Police Colonel Kritsada Kaochandi, who blamed both attacks on insurgents.
The troubled rubber-rich provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat were part of a Muslim sultanate annexed a century ago by predominantly Buddhist Thailand.
About 80 per cent of the people in the region are Muslim and speak a Malay dialect.
The violence has ranged from drive-by shootings to bombings and beheadings. It often targets Buddhists and Muslims associated with the Thai state, such as police, soldiers, government officials, security volunteers and teachers.
The deployment of tens of thousands of police and troops empowered by tough security laws has done little to quell the violence, which no credible group has claimed responsibility for.
Reuters