THAILAND: Two policemen killed in south Thailand attack

Suspected separatist militants shoot dead two policemen at a crowded market in Thailand's Muslim-majority far south, police say. Suspected separatist militants killed two policemen at a crowded market in Thailand's Muslim-majority south on Saturday (March 24), police said. According to police officials, the officers were shot in the head at close range by two militants while they were on patrol at a crowded market in the district of Bacho, in Narathiwat province. The policemen were taken to a nearby hospital but later died. Narathiwat is one of three provinces in the south where much of the separatist violence has taken place in recent years. The attack took place two days after Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont flew to the region where more than 2,000 people have been killed in separatist attacks in the past three years. The violence in the provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat -- an Islamic sultanate until annexed by Bangkok a century ago -- has shown no signs of abating since a September 19 coup led by a Muslim general.

ITN Source | March 24, 2007

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