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Published on November 22, 2007

PATTANI

The four gunmen on two motorcycles opened fire with automatic rifles and handguns, killing Piphat Nisawa-anutharapan, 36, and two female colleagues, Jittree Sitkotchawan and Pakaporn Khunchon, both 28.

When police arrived on the scene the bomb was detonated remotely, injuring one officer.

The incident was just one in a day of violence in the deep South. A 42-year-old Muslim man was shot dead in front of his Yala home, while a bomb planted at a food stall in Muang district of the same province injured six, three seriously, according Deputy Governor Gissada Boonraj.

Intellectual Deep South Watch, an independent monitoring group based at Prince of Songkhla University in Pattani, said the first two weeks of November had seen the worst bloodshed in 11 months, with 56 people killed and 80 wounded in a total of 85 attacks.

The group said in a statement that separatist rebels were increasingly targeting women, children and teachers.

 The Nation