2 Thai security officers killed by bomb, another shot

Buddhist villagers mourn next to the bodies of their slain relatives. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

YALA, Thailand - SUSPECTED Muslim separatists detonated a bomb that killed two security officers in Thailand's restive south and shot another in a separate attack, police said, in the latest escalation of violence in the region.

The killings follow a bloody raid on an army camp, a massive roadside bombing, the execution-style shooting of a Buddhist family and several drive-by attacks in the past two weeks, which analysts believe was a political statement by Malay Muslim rebels seeking autonomy from predominantly Buddhist Thailand.

The intensification of violence comes after the government hailed the success of security operations and public relations campaigns in reducing the number of attacks.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has said the government was considering lifting the emergency decree in the region over time despite opposition from the army.

The latest victims were government paramilitary rangers who were patrolling in Yala province on Friday when a roadside bomb went off, police said. A drive-by shooting killed another paramilitary ranger in neighbouring Pattani province late on Thursday.

Yala and Pattani are two of three Muslim-dominated provinces bordering Malaysia where more than 4,300 people, both Muslims and Buddhists, have been killed in a low-level insurgency since 2004. 

Analysts believe the unrest, for which no group has claimed responsibility, is an ethno-nationalist struggle by Malay Muslims who say their identity, language and culture is neither respected nor fully understood by the Thai state. -- REUTERS