Thai violence claims more victims

Violence continues to kill people most weeks in southern Thailand

A policeman and a suspected militant were killed in a shootout in the south of Thailand, after two Buddhists were killed in a drive-by shooting.

Police also told reporters the separate incidents left at least one other person wounded.

The incidents took place in in Pattani, one of three mainly Muslim provinces near the Malaysian border.

More than 3,600 people have died in violence in Thailand's south since 2004.

Killing continues

The 25-year-old police officer and the 27-year-old Muslim, believed by the police to be an insurgent, were killed when a group of soldiers, policemen and provincial officers went into a village where they suspected militants were hiding.

The two Buddhists were killed in a separate incident earlier on Monday in Pattani. The AFP news agency said the shootings were carried out by four militants travelling on two motorbikes.

Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat provinces were part of a Malay Muslim sultanate until they were annexed by Thailand a century ago, and separatist tensions have simmered ever since.

Around 60,000 troops are now stationed in the area.

Five years ago, an attack on the Krue Se mosque marked a sharp escalation in the separatist conflict. More than 100 people died in just one day.

About 3,500 people have died since then and successive governments have made little progress in stemming the unrest.

Thailand annexed the three southern provinces - Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani - in 1902, but the vast majority of people there are Muslim and speak a Malay dialect, in contrast to the Buddhist Thai speakers in the rest of the country.

Insurgents target people they perceive to be collaborating with the Bangkok government - using bomb blasts, beheadings and shootings.

They also try to force Buddhist residents from the area, with the aim of ultimately establishing a separate Islamic state.

Human rights groups argue that the government's failure to punish any members of the security forces for abuses against civilians has alienated the population in Thailand's deep south.

But other analysts believe the militants, who operate in small cells affiliated with Islamic schools, are not interested in negotiating with the government, whatever concessions it makes.