Thai bombs target teacher convoy

The people of southern Thailand are used to frequent blasts

Five security officers have been killed by a roadside bomb in Thailand's south.

They were attacked by a group of suspected insurgents, who ambushed them as they were guarding teachers on their way to a school in Yala province.

The attack is the latest in a string of violent incidents in the Thai south, where more than 1,300 people have been killed since January 2004.

Officials blames Muslim insurgents for much of the unrest, although criminal motives are also thought to be at work.

The southern provinces are predominantly Muslim, with a separate language and culture to much of the rest of Thailand.

Militants often target schools and teachers because they see them as symbols of the Buddhist Thai authorities.

In many areas of the south, the government now provides teachers with armed escorts to and from their classes to prevent them from being harmed.

Ongoing violence

In Tuesday's attack, a bomb exploded under a military truck guarding the teachers, immediately killing a Buddhist soldier.

TROUBLED SOUTH Home to most of Thailand's 4% Muslim minority Muslim rebels fought the government up to the mid-80s Suspected militants have upped attacks since 2004, targeting Buddhists Security forces' response criticised by rights groups Thailand's restive south

Militants waiting nearby then shot four security officers in the head, before leaving the scene with their weapons, police said.

In a separate incident, also on Tuesday, at least one person was killed in a drive-by shooting in Narathiwat province.

Militants also launched two bomb attacks on convoys of security forces in Narathiwat, but nobody was hurt, police said.

The latest attacks come just over a week after scores of co-ordinated blasts rocked the three southern provinces.

At least 17 people have been arrested in connection with those attacks.