Updated on
Summary
A shooting and bombing killed six people and wounded 10 policemen in Thailand's restive Muslim south of Narathiwat, police said on Thursday.The police went to the attack site after reports of a shooting which killed six people in Bacho district, officers said. When they were close to the attack site, militants detonated a 15 kilogramme bomb, which was hidden in a gas tank. Police said 10 officers were wounded. The police were not seriously hurt and later went to inspect the site where they found six bodies. The investigators said the victims were killed by M-16 and AK-47 weapons. More than 3,900 people have been killed in six years of unrest blamed on separatist insurgents in the region bordering Malaysia. The troubled rubber-rich provinces of Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat were part of a Muslim sultanate until annexed a century ago by predominantly Buddhist Thailand. About 80 percent of the region is Muslim and its people speak a Malay dialect. The violence has ranged from drive-by shootings to bombings and beheadings. The targets are often Buddhists and Muslims associated with the Thai state, such as police, soldiers, government officials and teachers.
