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Published on August 3, 2007

 Two security officers and a villager were killed in ambushes and others were injured as militants in the South continued their reaction against the authorities' recent wave of arrests of suspected insurgents. The latest attacks came amid concern that the violence might spread to the southern business hub of Hat Yai.

The first attack of the day came at about 8am yesterday when Sergeant Witthaya Sripim was shot dead while guarding a school bus.

A group of gunmen in a pickup truck attacked him and the bus driver after they had dropped off students at schools in Pattani's Sai Buri district. The driver, Jackrit Wangkaew, was injured in the gun attack, police said.

In Pattani's Yaring distirct, Sub-Lieutenant Pakorn Intarakul of the Yaring district police station died after a roadside bomb exploded as he led five colleagues in providing security for teachers in the area. His colleagues were injured in the blast.

Two security volunteers were injured in a bomb attack, also around 8am, in Yala's Muang district.

The volunteers were on patrol to clear the way for teachers commuting to schools. Somporn Jitkul and Narong Skunphet, who were riding the same motorbike on the patrol, were both injured.

In Yala's Bannang Sata, a 63-year-old man was shot dead at about noon while riding a motorbike from a nearby rubber plantation.

Lateh Hasa was hit by numerous bullets and died instantly at the scene, police said.

Authorities are struggling to contain violence which has claimed more than 2,300 lives since 2004.

The Fourth Army Region expressed confidence about containing the violence in the three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat

Concern that the violence may spill over to Songkhla and the southern business hub of Hat Yai was raised after a rare explosion in Songkhla's Na Thawi district on Wednesday evening that killed one police officer and injured more than 10 other people. 

The Fourth Army Region's deputy commander Maj-General Kasikorn Kirisri said the military were in firm control in many sensitive areas and had restricted the movement of militants in violent hotspots such as Yala's Bannang Sata and Yaha districts.

"We are monitoring them closely so that they cannot move to create trouble in areas such as Hat Yai," he said.