Thailand: Suspect insurgents killed in gunfight

TWO suspected insurgents were killed in a gunfight in Thailand's restive Muslim south yesterday after launching an ambush on a military patrol.

The gunmen, believed to be separatist rebels, opened fire on troops and paramilitary rangers early in the morning in the mountains of Yala province, leading to a shootout that left two of the militants dead. The rest of the group fled and three M-16 assault rifles were retrieved.

The attacks were the latest in a recent intensification of violence in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat provinces bordering Malaysia, where ethnic Malay separatists are waging a bloody rebellion against the Thai state.

The violence has killed 4,500 people since the conflict resurfaced in early 2004.