| Gunmen riding a motorcycle fatally shot a judge Friday when his car stopped at a traffic light, the most senior government figure to be killed in a Muslim separatist movement in southern Thailand, officials said. Rapin Ruangkaew, a Buddhist, was shot five times in the head and the body as he was driving to work in Pattani town, the capital of Pattani province, its police chief, Maj. Gen. Paitoon Pattanasophon. said. The three gunmen escaped on one motorcycle, he said. "We suspect that Muslim insurgents have a hand in this.'' Rapin could have been targeted because he had recently ruled on several cases against insurgents arrested for bombings and other attacks. On Thursday, gunmen on a motorcycle shot and seriously injured a senior police officer in the neighboring Narathiwat province. |