NARATHIWAT : A Buddhist couple was shot dead in front of their 4-year-old son yesterday in the latest attack in Narathiwat.
Police blamed an insurgent group for the attack, which also left the child injured.
Police, who were called to the crime scene on Tak Bai-Sungai Kolok road, found the child frightened and crying next to his dead father Chuai Doemmuak, 52, and dead mother Prapha Sanguanphan, 43.
The boy, Pimai, was also injured in the shooting when their motorcycle, driven by his father, toppled over after Chuai was shot in the head by an attacker.
Minutes earlier, the family had been travelling on the motorcycle to Tak Bai district to apply for passports.
At Ban Khok Mueba in Tak Bai district, Chuai was hailed by two men on another motorcycle to stop.
Pimai told police the two acted as if they wanted to ask Chuai for directions, but then the man on the back of the bike took out a pistol and shot his mother and father.
The attackers then stole the family's motorcycle and fled.
Investigators are searching for the men, who they believe are members of a separatist group in Narathiwat.
In Pattani, meanwhile, Sari Maming, 53, the village head of Moo 5 in Yarang district's tambon Yarang, was shot by an attacker as he worked in a rubber plantation yesterday.
Mr Sari was wounded but managed to return fire, prompting the attacker to flee, according to investigators.
Earlier, in the same province, Phama Cheawae, 43, an employee of Khlong Maning Tambon Administration Organisation, was gunned down at his house by an unidentified man.
Police are looking into whether his death resulted from a personal conflict or the insurgency, as Phama was once allegedly involved in drugs.
In Narathiwat, police probing the death of a couple in Cho Airong district on July 21 believe they were shot by militants who were seeking revenge for the death of their leader Suphian Mama.
A key Runda Kumpulan Kecil guerrilla suspect, Suphian was killed by security officers on July 19.