Four troops, female activist killed in Thai south

SUSPECTED separatist killed four soldiers in an ambush in troubled southern Thailand yesterday, while a female Muslim rights activist has been shot dead, police said.

The rangers were on patrol in a pick-up truck in Pattani province when insurgents triggered a roadside bomb by mobile phone and then opened fire on the vehicle, said police.

Separately police announced the death one week ago of activist Laila Paa Daoh Itae, 45 - the fourth member of the same family killed in the Muslim-majority region in the past five years.

Laila was ambushed by suspected militants while riding a motorcycle home in restive Yala province last yesterday. She was rushed to hospital but died during the following night.

New York-based Human Rights Watch condemned the shooting, saying that before her death Laila had promoted peaceful coexistence between ethnic Malay Muslims and Buddhist Thais in the region.

Her eldest son, a local village chief, was killed by alleged insurgents in 2004 while her husband and second son, who were both volunteers with local authorities, were killed in 2006, the group said.

"Laila's brutal murder is part of ongoing efforts by insurgents to intimidate and attack Muslims who oppose (the) insurgency or have supported Thai authorities," said Brad Adams, the group's Asia director.

More than 3,600 people have been killed during five years of violence in predominantly Buddhist Thailand's southernmost provinces near the Malaysian border.

The shadowy rebels regularly target anyone suspected of collaborating with Thai authorities.AFP