[AFP] A Thai soldier died and 20 other people were injured, including two civilians, as militants ambushed an army patrol in Thailand's far South. The attack began early Thursday when a roadside bomb struck a vehicle carrying the rangers in a remote village in the Yaha district of Yala province. A second bomb was detonated half an hour later as bomb squad experts arrived to clear the scene, followed by a shootout in which the rebels peppered the security forces with fire.
Military spokesman Colonel Pramote Prom-in said a lance corporal had died from his wounds, with 18 other soldiers injured and "two villagers slightly injured".
The attack comes while the military government holds talks with an umbrella group claiming to represent the rebels to set up 'safety zones' in the south as a form of limited ceasefire.