Militants kill two soldiers in Thai Muslim south

BANGKOK, Nov 11 (Reuters) Suspected militants killed two Thai soldiers today in the latest violence in the rebellious Muslim south despite peace gestures from the post-coup government, police said.

Up to ten militants fired on the soldiers as they rode their motorcycle in Yala, one of three southernmost provinces where a separatist insurgency has killed more than 1,700 people since January 2004.

''They took two rifles and a pistol after the attack,'' said a Yala police official, who declined to be named.

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont visited Yala on Wednesday to appeal for an end to the violence, reinforcing his policy U-turn from elected predecessor Thaksin Shinawatra's hardline approach to the insurgency.

Last week, Surayud apologised for Thaksin's iron-fist policies blamed for stoking unrest in the region.

His government, appointed after a bloodless coup ousted Thaksin on September 19, then dropped charges against 92 Muslims involved in a 2004 demonstration and agreed to pay compensation for the deaths of 78 protesters.

Southern Muslims, an ethnic Malay minority in overwhelmingly Buddhist Thailand, deeply resented Thaksin's refusal to apologise for the deaths of the 78 crushed or suffocated in army custody.

REUTERS BDP HS0929