Two Buddhists, Muslim killed in Thailand's far south

Pattani: Suspected militants shot dead a Muslim and two Buddhists in two separate incidents in Thailand's far south, police said on Tuesday, the latest violence in a five-year separatist rebellion.

The 24-year-old Muslim was shot dead and his mother was injured as they rode a motorcycle to a rubber plantation in Pattani, one of three southern provinces roiled by violence that has killed 3,200 people since 2004.

In a nearby district, two Buddhist truck drivers were shot dead and mutilated by four unknown gunmen at a rubber factory, police said.

The killers sped away on two motorcycles with one of the victims' amputated arms, police said.

Pattani and the neighbouring provinces of Narathiwat and Yala, abutting Malaysia, were a Muslim sultanate until annexed a century ago by predominantly Buddhist Thailand.

Around 80 percent of people there are Muslim and speak a Malay dialect, not Thai.