Eight more killed in restive Thai south

At least four soldiers on patrol in an army vehicle were killed yesterday afternoon when insurgents remotely detonated a roadside bomb 300 metres from a school in Narathiwat province.

Rescue workers and police were unable to reach the scene immediately to assess the damage and number of injured, as the insurgents had thrown spikes onto the road to prevent access, police said.

Earlier yesterday, a 39-year-old Muslim villager was killed in a drive-by shooting in Yala province, police said, while in nearby Pattani a 51-year-old Buddhist hospital worker was shot dead in a similar attack.

On Tuesday afternoon, police found the bodies of a Muslim couple in their mid-30s in their house in Yala province. They had died from bullet wounds.

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont announced Wednesday that he would lead a delegation of ministers to the Muslim-majority south this weekend in the latest bid the quell escalating unrest.

More than 2,100 people have been killed in separatist violence in the provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat since January 2004, and violence is growing despite peace-building moves by the government.

Surayud will head to the area on Sunday for a one-day visit with his two deputy prime ministers and seven cabinet ministers.

He said he wanted to give cabinet members first-hand experience of the unrest in the region bordering Malaysia, where they will meet military and civilian officials in Pattani and Yala.