The suspects are Abdullohman Hama, Ahsae Tayoh, Ibroheng Rumae and Muhamadsari Abu.

Police had offered a Bt500,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Abdullohman.

 The villagers tried but failed to break through the police station's door to release the four suspects. Reinforcements of police and soldiers arrived to prevent violence.

 A blast was heard from behind the station as the villagers confronted security officials at the front. The blast was merely a firecracker, however.

Protesters blocked the road when officers tried to take the four suspects to a command office in Yala for further questioning.

The villagers finally retreated after police said the four would be released if police had no solid evidence with which to charge them.

A confrontation between villagers and security officials in Tak Bai turned into a lethal crackdown in October 2004.

Eight-five protesters were killed, many of them by suffocation after being stacked face down on trucks for transportation to detention facilities. As in yesterday's protest, they had demanded that suspects be freed from a district police station. The three southernmost provinces have seen a surge in separatist-linked violence since the beginning of 2004, with more than 1,300 people killed so far in almost daily shootings and arson attacks.

Yesterday afternoon three security officials and two alleged militants were killed during a raid on a security outpost in Pattani's Sai Buri district, police said.

Nine police officers were preparing for a routine patrol when a group of about 10 gunmen attacked them, police said.

One officer was also injured and two suspected militants were later arrested, said Lt-Colonel Pakorn Chantrachota, deputy chief of Task Force 43. Pakorn led the reinforcement unit that pursued the attackers.

Two M-16 rifles and six magazines were found at the scene of the gunfight, he said.