Lao Buddhist workers beheaded

BANGKOK, Sunday (Reuters) - Muslim militants have beheaded two Lao migrant workers in Thailand's mainly Muslim south, police said on Sunday, believing it may be the same group that beheaded a Thai Buddhist teacher last week.

The bodies of the young Buddhist couple, who left neighbouring Laos two months ago to work on a Thai chicken farm, were found on Saturday in Pattani province, one of three deep south provinces where more than 700 people have died in violence since January 2004.

"From our preliminary investigation, it could be the work of Muslim militants who earlier beheaded the retired Buddhist teacher in the same province," Pattani Police Major Uthai Chaimala told Reuters.