More Buddhists killed in Thailand's Muslim south

BANGKOK, Nov 19 (Reuters) Suspected Muslim militants shot dead a Buddhist man in Thailand's restive south today in another apparent response by separatists to Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont's peace visit last week.

A policeman said the victim, whose neck had also been partially severed, was the third Buddhist killed in the last three days in the southern province of Yala in what appeared to be a coordinated campaign to force Buddhists to leave.

''I had warned him about the situation. I had asked him and his family to leave this village because it is almost occupied by Thai Muslims,'' the policeman said.

Last night, suspected Muslim militants shot dead an elderly Buddhist man in Yala, one of the three southernmost Thai provinces in which more than 1,800 people have died in nearly three years of unrest.

The militants have never made their aims public or claimed responsibility for any attacks in the Muslim-majority, Malay-speaking region, which was an independent sultanate until annexed by Thailand a century ago.

Surayud, who was appointed by the army after a military coup against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in September, has embarked on a major peace drive in the south, stating a desire for talks for rebels.

His three visits in the last month have been followed almost immediately by coordinated bombings or shootings.

REUTERS SSC ND1222