[BenarNews] In the deadliest violence for weeks, insurgents gunned down six people in a string of attacks carried out Tuesday and Wednesday in southern Thailand. The killings over a 24-hour period were the most in the region since three people were killed and four wounded in gun and bomb attacks on November 2 and 3.The latest attacks bring to 29 the number of people killed in Thailand's southern border region since September 1, despite ongoing negotiations between the Thai military government aimed at opening formal peace talks with militant groups. Another 67 people were wounded in attacks since then.
Police said the six were killed and two others were wounded in separate shootings in Pattani and Narathiwat provinces. The shootings began when a militia officer and his wife were killed in Pattani. They were gunned down while riding a motorcycle to pick up their daughter.
Later on Tuesday, a village chief in Pattani's Yaring district was shot dead in a pickup truck with his wife, who was treated for her injuries. Police said the couple was heading to the hospital when the shooting occurred. Soon after an employee of the provincial electricity authority, was killed in Panarae, another district in Pattani.
The last incident on Tuesday happened when the bullet-ridden body of volunteer ranger Adul Yamyae was found in Saiburi district, Pattani.
At 2 a.m. Wednesday, police at the Yee Ngor district police station in Narathiwat reported that Alfeesa Yima was wounded while driving to his home.
Later, in the Narathiwat's Janae district Abdulachi Dolah was gunned down while driving home.
The region has seen more than 15,000 gun or bomb attacks and more than 6,700 people have been killed since the separatist insurgency re-ignited January 2004.