Insurgents kill three soldiers in two separate attacks

In Narathiwat's Rusoh district, ten militants ambushed a six-man patrol, killing two soldiers and making off with their rifles and flak jackets. The four survivors retreated to a nearby outpost to radio for reinforcements.

 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 back roads of this highly contested district.

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

When reinforcements arrived, the two victims were found dead on the roadside. The officers said it appeared the insurgents, who attacked from a higher ground, came down and shot the two at point blank range with AK-47 automatic rifles to make sure they were dead.

Investigating officers said the gunfight lasted only 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 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.

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

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.