Four shot dead in Thailand

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Four people, among them civilians and paramilitary soldiers, were shot dead in Thailand's restive deep south, police said today, the latest violence in the troubled region bordering Malaysia.

The attacks took place late last night and early this morning in Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani, three predominantly Muslim provinces where more than 4,200 people have been killed in six years of unrest blamed mostly on separatists.

A bank teller was gunned down as he rode a motorcycle on a main road in Pattani today and a former district chief was killed in a similar attack late last night as he travelled home from evening prayers at a mosque.

The same night, two Muslim village defence volunteers were shot dead as they rode a motorcycle home in Yala, said police colonel Narin Boosaman.

Police blamed Malay Muslim rebels for the attacks. The insurgents, who have never stated their aims, often target Muslims working for the Thai state, such as soldiers, informants, school teachers and government officials.

Some Muslim leaders, however, believe the killings are the work of rogue members of the government's security forces or vigilantes among the region's Buddhist minority.

Local Muslims largely oppose the presence of tens of thousands of police, soldiers and state-armed paramilitaries in the rubber-rich region, which was part of a Malay sultanate until annexed by Buddhist Thailand in 1909