Pol Sgt-Major Pak Petmalai, 47, was found dead on the roadside in Sai Buri district's Tambon Pase Yawor with a bullet hole in the head from a .38-calibre handgun.

In Yala, a man riding pillion shot dead fire-fighter Nikom Nupeng, 37, who was planting trees in Bannang Sata district, police said.

At the crime scene, police found eight spent cartridges from a 9mm pistol.

The separate attacks came a day after suspected insurgents planted a bomb underneath a pickup truck that was detonated after it entered the Army's Sirindhorn Fort in Pattani's Yarang district.

The truck's owner, Sgt-Major Ammat Hajiwani, 53, escaped unhurt.

The base houses the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre (SBPAC), a multi-agency body revived by the current administration after it was dissolved in the middle of 2002 by the previous government.

Yala Deputy Governor Nathaphon Wicheanpert said the government had received information that separatists were planning to employ similar tactics that they used with the SBPAC but against senior government officials, including military and police VIPs.

Nathaphon did not say if the rebels would be carrying out roadside bombings, commonly used against soldiers and police on patrol, or if they would try to hide explosives in vehicles as they had done with Sgt-Major Ammat.

The Nation

Pattani