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Published on December 22, 2007

Some 80 police raided an orchard in Ban Tonyee village in the evening after a tip-off that insurgents were hiding there.

Two men identified as Fadel Jijai, Yuhan Lateh and an unknown man were killed after a 20-minute gunfight with security personnel.

Police said Fadel was a key leader of separatists in the area involved in bomb attacks on many places in Yala in September, August and November.

In neighbouring Pattani, a roadside bomb slightly wounded two police on patrol in Khok Pho district. They were Sr Sgt-Major Manoon Kaewkapthong and Sgt-Major Chumphol Kaewvijit.

The almost daily violence in the restive South has claimed more than 2,700 lives in the past five years.

The Nation