Police: Suspected insurgents kill 8 in 2 days of bloodshed in Thailand’s restive south

Police: 8 killed in Thailand’s restive south

PATTANI, Thailand — Suspected Muslim insurgents detonated roadside bombs that killed eight people, including one civilian, in two separate attacks in Thailand’s restive south, police said Friday.

A bomb explosion in Yala province on Friday killed three soldiers in a pickup truck who were sent to fix a water pipe in a village in Yaha district, said police Col. Sawas Tiawirat.

On Thursday evening, suspected insurgents detonated a bomb and then shot at security forces on a patrol in Narathiwat province, killing a soldier, two security rangers, a village security guard and a village official, said police Capt. Pairat Kiatcharoensiri.

The suspects stole four rifles before fleeing in the Rue So district of Narathiwat, he said.

More than 4,000 people have been killed in Thailand’s three southernmost provinces since an Islamist insurgency erupted in 2004.

Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala provinces are the only Muslim-majority areas in the predominantly Buddhist country. Muslims there have long complained of discrimination by the central government.

The southern insurgents have made no public pronouncements, but are thought to be fighting for an independent Muslim state. Their attacks target symbols of the state, including soldiers, government-run offices and businesses.