PATTANI, Thailand – Rebels staged an ambush and set off bombs across southern Thailand in violence Wednesday that left 11 people dead, including two soldiers and five suspected Muslim insurgents, police said.
Attackers opened fire on a unit of soldiers on a search operation in the Bannang Sata district where Muslim insurgency has been particularly active, he said. No soldiers were hurt in the hour-long firefight.
“They were acting on a tip-off that these insurgents have been hiding in the village,” said Sompien.
Also Wednesday, at least three assailants sprayed dozens of bullets into a house in Narathiwat province, killing two men, said police Lt. Vorapong Klomsakun.
Police said it was one of six bombs that exploded in several areas of Narathiwat Wednesday morning.
More than 2,300 people have been killed in the predominantly Muslim provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat and some parts of Songkhla since early 2004, when a separatist movement flared up after a lull of more than two decades.
Nearly 400 young Muslim men suspected of involvement with the separatist movement have been arrested and detained during the past few months, Akara said.
