Militants kill five at council in Thai Muslim south

Bangkok, Mar 16: Militants killed five people in a raid on a government office today in Thailand's rebellious Muslim south, police said. They attacked during a council meeting in the largely Buddhist Pado district of Pattani, one of three Muslim-majority provinces hit by a two-year separatist insurgency in which more than 1,100 people have been killed, police said.

The victims' identities were not immediately known, they added.

The government of overwhelmingly Buddhist Thailand has tried many means, ranging from armed force to promises of development aid, to end the violence and win over the hearts and minds of the 1.8 million people in the region bordering Malaysia.

Yet militant attacks on security forces, officials and ordinary people continue almost daily.

REUTERS