At 5pm, in Yarang district, Pattani fishery officer Pipat Intrapetch was shot in his right arm while riding his motorbike home from work. Pipat fell off his bike but managed to fire back at the two men who attacked him. Police said he shot them in their backs as they fled. They remain at large.

At about the same time, Yama Uma, 40, a member of Puloh Puyo's tambon administrative organisation, was found dead on a roadside in Nong Chik district. Police said Yama had been transporting vegetables home on his motorbike when two gunmen riding a motorbike shot him dead.

He was hit three times in his body by bullets fired from an 11mm pistol.

Late yesterday in the same district, two gunmen opened fire at Yoh Sama-ae, 58, while she was walking on a street about 50 metres from her home.

She was shot in the left knee and is receiving treatment at a local hospital.

Police suspect Muslim militants carried out the shootings.

Meanwhile, in Bangkok, caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai Vanasatidya said officials would next week discuss why government restrictions on pre-paid SIM cards had failed to prevent mobile phones from being used to detonate bombs in the region.

Chidchai dodged questions about which particular aspect of the highly publicised initiative failed to prevent the attacks, which appear to be on the rise.

The "policy remained unchanged" but "adjustment has to be made", he said without elaborating.

On Friday, a bomb was detonated in front of Thai Rath Withaya 89 School in Narathiwat, injuring two students and one soldier.

One year ago, the government made it mandatory for all mobile-phone users to register their pre-paid SIMs card if they wished to use their phones in Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala, amid reports that most bombs were being detonated via mobile phones.

But in most, if not all, bomb attacks, the SIM card is destroyed beyond the point where any information can be salvaged by authorities.