June 1, 2011
YALA, Thailand (AFP) - Six people have been killed and eight wounded in a spate of shooting and bomb attacks in the restive Thai south, police said Wednesday.
A local government official and a security volunteer, both Muslims, were killed in a roadside bomb attack in Yala province early on Wednesday, which wounded another four security volunteers.
The explosion happened as they were travelling to the scene of an earlier landmine blast in which a rubber plantation worker had lost his leg.
On Tuesday in Narathiwat province, two suspected Islamic militants were killed as they planted a bomb that accidentally exploded. Another injured rebel managed to flee the scene by motorcycle, police said.
In separate gun attacks on Tuesday, a 48-year-old Buddhist woman was killed in Pattani province and a Muslim man, 27, was shot dead.
In Yala, another roadside bomb attack wounded two police officers who were part of a protection team for local teachers.
Thailand's southern provinces have been plagued by almost daily violence since shadowy insurgents launched an uprising in Thailand's southernmost region in early 2004.
More than 4,500 people, both Muslims and Buddhists, have died in the attacks, which have appeared to become more brazen in recent months, with car bombs and assaults on military bases or outposts.
