Three shot dead, five injured in bomb attacks in Thai south

THAILAND: Three people were shot dead while five others were injured in three simultaneous bomb attacks at karaoke bars in Thailand's restive south, police said Sunday.

A 55-year-old Muslim villager was gunned down early Sunday by suspected Islamic militants as he drove a motorcycle in Narathiwat, one of three insurgency-torn mainly Muslim southern provinces bordering Malaysia.

A 61-year-old Buddhist man was also killed by militants in a drive-by shooting Sunday in neighboring Yala province, while a 44-year-old Muslim villager was shot dead late Saturday in Pattani province.

In Narathiwat, three bombs went off simultaneously before midnight in and around two karaoke bars, injuring five people including two police officers. The first bomb, placed under a sofa at one of the bars, exploded and wounded the two policemen.

The second bomb went off at a bar just 50 meteres (yards) away, wounding one staff member and two customers. The third device, placed on the road leading to the two bars, exploded but no one was hurt.

Deadly attacks continued to rattle the region despite Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont's apology to Muslims for the government's failure to quell the long-running insurgency. The restive region was an independent sultanate that mainly Buddhist Thailand annexed in 1902, and separatist unrest has erupted periodically ever since.

Nearly 1,600 people have been killed since the latest insurgency broke out in January 2004, as the almost daily violence has been variously blamed on ethnic Malay separatists, Islamic extremists and criminal gangs.

Local government officials, police, military and Buddhists are often targeted by Islamic militants but Muslims seen as sympathetic to the government are also attacked.

Bangkok, Sunday, AFP