Former village chief shot dead in front of his child

Gunmen on pickup truck drove up to Asem Waji, 49, and commenced fire with M16 automatic rifle, letting off at least ten rounds. Three rounds hit Asem in the torso, and one in the head. His daughter suffered a gunshot wound to her rib.

She was rushed to a nearby hospital. The attack took place on Sunday.

Hours later a 43-year-old alleged informant for Thai authorities was shot while siting in front of his house in Yala town. He died later in hospital, according to news report.

In spite of claims of progress, violence in the deep South continues unabated. Government officials blamed most if not all of the violence incident the restive region on Malay Muslim separatists bent on carving out a separate homeland. But local residents often attributed much of the killings on government death squad carrying out target killings against suspected militants.

In separate but similar incident, Mustopha Mahileh, 36, the deputy village chief in Tambon Puyud, Pattani's Muang district, was shot dead Sunday as he was walking home from a nearby mosque where he had just completed midday prayer. Mustopha was shot in the head and chest and died at the scene of the shooting.

  Meanwhile, police in Sukirin district have rounded up ten suspects in connection to the November 4 carbomb that injured more than 60 people, mostly villager chief and tambon officers, who had just came out of their monthly meeting.

According Isara News Agency, a police source who spoke on condition of anonymity said one of the suspect admitted to being part of the bombing attack but did not go into details. Not further detail was available.