3 suspected militants killed in southern Thailand

Police say three suspected militants have been killed and three soldiers wounded in a shootout in Thailand's violence-prone south. Police Col. Manit Yimsai says the gunbattle started Tuesday after a group of suspected insurgents on a pickup truck began firing their rifles at soldiers who were erecting a roadside security checkpoint in Pattani province's Panarae district. Four other attackers escaped after the 30-minute gunfight. Nearly 5,000 people have been killed in Thailand's three southernmost provinces since an Islamist insurgency flared up in 2004. Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani are the only Muslim-dominated provinces in the predominantly Buddhist country.

ePaper - Nawaiwaqt