A village headman was shot dead in his pick-up truck while returning home from a meeting in Muang district of Pattani on Tuesday afternoon.
Pol Col Somporn Meesuk, the Muang district police chief, said the attack took place about 1.05pm on a road at Ban Kuya in tambon Paka Harang.
Ya Waeni, 58, the headman of Village No 6 in tambon Paka Harang was returning home in his pick-up truck when he was attacked by gunmen armed with AK47 and M16 rifles.
Ya was shot many times in the body and died on spot. His pistol was stolen by the killers.
Many spent M16 and AK47 catridge cases were found around the bullet-riddled pick-up truck.
Police blamed southern militants.
Also in Pattani, a villager was seriously wounded at his home in Mayor district on Tuesday afternoon.
Pol Col Kongath Suwankham, chief of Mayor police station, said Saman Deekuleh, 32, was sitting inside his house in Ban Khanthao of tambon Ko Chan when a gunman walked in and fired several shots at him with a handgun. The attacker then fled.
The victim took three bullets in his back and was taken to Mayor hospital. Doctors decided to sent him on to Pattani hospital because his condition was critical.
Police were investigating.
Since the resurgence of insurgency in 2004 there have been around 11,000 violent incidents instigated by secessionists in the Muslim- dominant southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, with almost 5,000 people killed and nearly 8,000 injured.
A village headman, Ya Waeni, was shot dead in his pick-up truck while returning home from a meeting in Pattani on June 5, 2012. (Photos by Abdulloh Benjakat)