Attackers shot and beheaded the man and shot his wife. The scene of the killings was littered with threats of more reprisals

Police found Pin Kotchatin decapitated and his wife Ruangrong Keowkrai shot in the head in a Muang district orchard.

They found three notes signed by Pattani "warriors" near the bodies claiming the murders were revenge for killings of "fellows" in nearby Yupo.

The notes read "We will kill all of you in retaliation for murder in Yupo" and "As long as you don't leave our country Pattani, we will kill all of you crazy Buddhists".

Yupo has been the scene of several killings, including the shooting and burning of two teachers in December. Police said the couple were killed while riding to work at a nearby rubber plantation. Decapitation is a scare tactic, Muang district police chief Pumphet Pipatphetpum said.

Meanwhile, Yala man Jit Rangsikosai was shot and killed in Lidon yesterday by suspected militants as he rode his motorcycle away from a teashop. The deceased's attackers stole his pistol, police said.

In Narathiwat's Rusoh district, an ice-cream seller was shot dead in front of his two-year-old daughter. Usaman Hajimu, 27, was hit four times in the head and chest while riding his motorbike to sell ice cream with his daughter. Police found the girl crying near her father's body.

Violence erupted in the deep South three years ago and has killed more than 1,900 people in the mainly Muslim region.