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Authorities detained Doramae Masae, Mamah Waecheleh, and Usman Asah, all of whom were suspected of being part of the insurgents in the deep South. The three tried to flee on foot into the wooded area but authorities were able to track them down, police said.

The move came one day after similar simultaneous offensives in Yingor amd Bacho districts where 30 suspected insurgents, including five key figures, were arrested as hundreds of troops swooped in on the community.

Army spokesman Colonel Acra Tiproch said the raids came about after tipoffs from residents that militants were hiding in their villages. Authorities have up until today detained more than 180 suspects in their custody after two months of raids on various pockets in the restive region.

Local residents said the operation was mainly for domestic consumption amid a growing criticism that authorities have fail to make meaningful breakthrough.

Other officials said tensions and historical mistrust between the Malayspeaking community and the Thai state remain high and the socalled success is no time to declare victory.

Meanwhile, in Narathiwat's Muang district, Suradej Samaae, 45, a resident of Tambon Bangpor who had contested in a local Tambon Administrative Organisation election but failed to secure the position, was seriously wounded when gunmen opened fire at him.

Police said two gunmen came up to Samaae from behind on a motorbike and shot at him while he was riding his motorbike near his resident. He survived the attack but is in a critical condition.

In Tamob Sungai Padi of the district with the same name, Waeduroh Derleh, 34, a school janitor at a local school, was shot dead by gunmen using shotgun, and 11mm. Police said his body was riddled with bullets - eight rounds to the chest, six to the back and three to his arms.

In nearby Yala, police detained Samae Awae, 25, a suspect in connection to the murder of a school principle and a fellow teacher of Ban Bado last December.

Chamnong Shupatpong, director of Ban Bado School and schoolteacher Manoon Sornkaew were gunned down and their bodies were burned about a kilometre from the school ground.

The Nation