Two Buddhists shot dead in Thai south

Two Buddhists shot dead in Thai south

THAILAND: Two Buddhist men have been shot dead by suspected Islamic militants in Thailand's restive south, police said on Sunday, in the latest episode in violence that has claimed more than 570 lives since it flared last year.

Damrong Suwanarangsri, 62, a former household employee of the local police chief, was gunned down in Narathiwat province on early Saturday morning as he rode his motorcycle to a nearby fruit plantation he was managing.

"Two men on motorcycle shot him three times with an 11 millimeter pistol before they escaped," a police spokesman told AFP. "He died at the scene".

The spokesman said 35-year-old villager Suriya Kaewmanee was killed in the same province late Saturday after also being shot three times by two men riding a motorbike. He died later the same day in hospital.

"The attacks were related to the violence that is still going on," said the spokesman, referring to almost daily attacks by separatists on police, troops, government officials, teachers at state schools, Buddhist monks and villagers. -- AFP