Insurgents kill 3 soldiers in two separate attacks

In Narathiwat's Rusoh district, a group of about ten militants ambushed a six-man patrol, killing two soldiers and making off with their rifles and flack jackets as four other retreats to a nearby outpost to radio for reinforcement.

The two victims, identified as squad leader Private First Class Sawaeng Thongrin, and Private Ithipol Kotsakdee, were riddled with bullets. They were part of a six-man motorbike squad providing security details for local public schools. They were hit while conducting a routine patrol in the backroad of this highly contested district.

According to investigating officer, the patrolling unit was cut off and the two victims were left behind as four others retreated to backup outpost situated at nearby public health office about 400 metres away where they radioed for backup.

By the time reinforcement arrived the two victims were laid dead on the roadside. Their bodies riddle with bullets. 

The officers said it appeared that the insurgents, who were holding up on a higher ground, came down and shot the two at point blank in the head with AK-47 automatic rifles to make sure that they are dead.

Investigating officers said the gunfight lasted just over minutes before the separatists retreated to the woods. About 300 security officers were deployed to the area but failed to track down the insurgents.

Later in the day in nearby Yala, an army convoy was ambushed, resulting in one death and three injuries.

The two ambushes Monday came one day after suspected insurgents shot dead two people, including a military informant and a local government employee.

 Meanwhile, in Pattani's Tambon Taluboh, insurgents set off a roadside bomb aimed at a patrolling army unit but the detonator failed to function properly.

The bomb was buried under the road linking Pattani to Narathiwat. Police said the explosive materials were still in tact.

More than 3,400 have been killed since January 2004 in the Muslim-majority region where a new generation of Malay insurgents is trying to carve out a separate homeland.