Soldier, villager killed in Thailand

Soldier, villager killed in Thailand

THAILAND: Southern Thailand's bloody unrest raged on over the weekend with an army officer and a local official slain by unidentified gunmen, police said on Sunday as the death toll from this year's violence neared 50.

Sgt. Major Pisith Sriraksa, 55, was walking with his daughter when he was gunned down on Saturday by men riding on a motorcycle in Yala, one of three Muslim-majority provinces in the south where violence has surged this year, police said.

"The sergeant was shot four times in his left torso and he died later at hospital," Yala city policeman Sontaya Thupthong told AFP.

An investigation has been launched into the attack, he added.

Two hours later in neighboring Songkhla province's Jana district, an assistant village headman was shot to death in another drive-by shooting, police there said.

The killings come just five days after Thailand announced a breakthrough in efforts to quell the unrest with the arrest of nine Muslims in connection with a raid on an army depot on Jan. 4 that left four soldiers dead. --AFP