Summary More than 5,000 people have been killed in Thailand's three Muslim-dominated provinces.
HAT YAI (AP) Police say three soldiers were killed and one was wounded in an attack by gunmen in Thailand s insurgency-plagued south.
Police Col. Wasant Phuangnoi says about eight suspected insurgents in a pickup truck opened fire Thursday on the four soldiers, who were traveling on motorcycles on a road in Yarang district in Yala province.
He says the officers exchanged gunfire with the militants.
Wasant says the gunmen took away three M16 rifles from the soldiers and fled the scene.
The incident occurred one day after five plainclothes policemen were killed in a similar attack in neighboring Pattani province.
More than 5,000 people have been killed in Thailand s three Muslim-dominated southernmost provinces since an insurgency erupted in 2004.
