Deputy village chief gun down at home

The victims were two men, aged 51 and 43, and a 42-year-old woman. A fourth villager was injured by a stray bullet and taken to hospital.

On Monday evening, deputy village chief Withaya Runwej, 50, of Rusoh district was shot dead by a group of about eight heavily armed men who stormed his house and riddled his body with M16 and .38 calibre rounds.

In Yala province, a 46-year-old former policeman was shot dead Monday in a drive-by shooting by gunman coming from behind and riding pillion on a motorbike.

More than 3,300 people have been killed in the three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, as well as the four Malay-speaking districts in Songkhla.