Four fruit traders shot dead in Yala

Armed men early Tuesday morning tied up four Buddhist fruit traders then shot them in the heads one by one in the latest gruesome insurgency attack in the deep southern province of Yala.

Police found the bodies of the victims, who included a woman, with their hands still tied behind their backs, in a house in Krong Pinang district at about 1am.

The four, a couple and two men, were from the eastern province of Rayong .They were identified as Thavorn Suvannachote, 35 and his wife; Tassana Toomporn, 25, Sutat Somroob, 37 and Somchai Ruenrom, 30.

According to the initial police investigation, a group of seven gunmen dressed in black arrived in a pickup, ambushed the group who were in the middle of meal, tied the victims' hands behind their backs and shot them dead.

Police suspected the shootings are the work of an insurgent group led by Issamaae Layalong, which has been involved in the killings of police, soldiers and villagers in Krong Pinang district.

The killings took place in less than a week after two ricefarming teachers from the central provinces were killed in Pattani.

Two trainers from the central provinces of Suphan Buri and Singburi went to the southern province to train local farmers to work under Her Majesty Queen Sirikit's project in abandoned paddy fields.