Three Muslim villagers shot dead in Thai south

Yala, Feb 11: Suspected separatists shot dead three Muslim villagers early today in Thailand's rebellious Muslim south, police said, the latest attack in a three-year insurgency in which more than 2,000 people have been killed.

The villagers were ambushed in Yala, one of three Muslim-majority provinces near Malaysia where most of the violence has taken place, while riding motorcycles to their rubber plantations, police told reporters.

In a separate incident, a railway official was seriously wounded in a gun attack on a passenger train in neighbouring Narathiwat province, police said.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the almost daily gun and bomb attacks in the former sultanate annexed by Buddhist Thailand a century ago.

Although the government appointed after a September coup ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has embarked on a peace drive in the Malay-speaking region, the violence continues.

The government will be seeking the cooperation of Kuala Lumput to end the insurgency during a two-day visit by Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi starting tomorrow.

Reuters