Attacks in Thailand's Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat provinces kill six, injure 27
A bombing and several shootings killed six people and wounded 27 during two days of violence in the insurgency-plagued south of Thailand, police said yesterday.
Five people were shot and more than two dozen injured in a spate of incidents on Saturday that spanned all three provinces in the Muslim-majority south, where an eight-year conflict has claimed thousands of lives.
In Pattani, unknown gunmen killed a policeman, a 74-year-old Buddhist and a security volunteer in separate attacks.
Another shooting in Yala targeted a Buddhist couple on their way to the local market, leaving the wife dead and the husband injured.
A similar incident in Narathiwat saw a couple - both security volunteers on their way to a shooting training session - shot, killing the woman and wounding her husband.
Also in Narathiwat, suspected militants fired two M-79 grenades into a busy local market festival, causing injuries to 23 people, although police said none were thought to be serious.
In a fresh round of attacks early yesterday, an 18-year-old Muslim man was found shot dead in Yala, while a mother and daughter were also attacked and injured by gunmen in a separate incident in the same province.
A complex insurgency calling for greater autonomy has plagued Thailand's south near the border with Malaysia since 2004, claiming more than 5,300 lives, both Buddhist and Muslim, with near daily attacks.
In response to an increase in violence over the summer, authorities in Thailand, a predominantly Buddhist country, said they had renewed peace talks with militant leaders.
