ASIA: Two shot dead in Thailand's troubled south: police
11 Dec 2008 10:15 PM
NARATHIWAT, Thailand, Dec 11 AFP - Separatist militants shot dead two people including a Buddhist vendor in separate attacks in Thailand's restive Muslim-majority south on Thursday, police said.
A 17-year-old Muslim was shot and killed and his 23-year-old friend was seriously wounded in a drive-by shooting as they rode a motorcycle in insurgency-hit Narathiwat province, said police.
Gunmen earlier opened fire on four street vendors selling goods in another district of the same province, killing a 27-year-old Buddhist street vendor, they said.
More than 3,500 people have been killed since separatist unrest erupted almost five years ago in Thailand's far south. Tensions have simmered since Thailand annexed the mainly Malay sultanate in 1902.
Last month, two bombs in Yala province wounded 74 people in one of the biggest attacks in the region.
