Soldiers kill two suspected Muslim militants in southern Thailand

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Thai security officials killed two suspected Muslim militants in a gunbattle that broke out Saturday in Thailand's insurgency-plagued south, a military spokesman said. "The security officials were on a search operation in the area after an attempted ambush nearby," Thai military spokesman Col. Parinya Chaidilok said. Dozens of soldiers and policemen were dispatched to track the rest of the assailants who fled, he said. One was later arrested. An Islamic separatist insurgency in Thailand's three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat has led to the deaths of more than 3,300 people since early 2004.