PATTANI - Suspected Muslim militants killed four soldiers in an ambush at a crowded market in southern Pattani province before escaping on a pick-up truck with M-16 rifles seized from the victims, police said on Friday.
Police said the gunmen tracked the soldiers and shot them with pistols at point-blank range while they were on foot patrol late on Thursday, providing security at the market.
A Muslim woman was wounded in the leg by a stray bullet.
Ethnic Malay Muslims represent the majority of the population in Pattani and nearby Yala and Narathiwat, the southernmost provinces of predominantly Buddhist Thailand.
