February 2, 2011
YALA, Thailand (AFP) - Suspected Islamic militants shot and killed a Buddhist family of four at their home in the south of Thailand before dumping their bodies in a forest, police said Wednesday.
The bodies of a 43-year-old man, a 33-year-old woman, their daughter, aged 16, and their seven-year-old son were found in a forest near a railway in insurgency-plagued Yala province on Tuesday.
Major General Chote Chawalwiwat said local people told the police they heard gun shots at the family's house, in neighbouring Narathiwat province, late on Monday but were too afraid to go and investigate the situation.
"They were the only Buddhist family left in their village, so the militants wanted to terrify and completely drive out Buddhists," he told AFP.
Shadowy Islamic insurgents have waged a violent campaign in Thailand's southernmost region bordering Malaysia since early 2004, leaving more than 4,400 people dead, including both Muslims and Buddhists.
Fighting appears to have intensified recently, with a bomb attack in Yala province killing nine villagers last week and an unusually brazen attack by armed rebels a week earlier on a military base killing at least four soldiers.
Thailand extended emergency rule on January 18 in most of the Muslim-majority region for another three months, despite rights groups' concerns about the powers given to the military.
