Summary A well-respected Muslim cleric in Thailand's south was killed in one of high-profile assassinations.
HAT YAI (AP) A well-respected Muslim cleric in Thailand s violence-plagued south was killed in one of the highest-profile assassinations of those working with the Thai government in resolving the southern insurgency.
Police Col. Tuanday Juthanan said Monday that Imam Yacob Raimani, 50, was shot dead by an unidentified gunman at a market in Pattani city.
Yacob is known to sympathize with Thai authorities and is against radicalization. He survived an assassination attack in 2011.
Human Rights Watch researcher Sunai Phasuk said Yacob s death could silence other Muslim sympathizers in the region.
Six security officers and five civilians were killed in three other attacks in the three Muslim-dominated southernmost provinces on the same day.
More than 5,000 people have been killed since an Islamic insurgency erupted in the sub-region in 2004.
