A couple and their 2-year-old daughter were killed and 12-year-old nephew wounded in a gun attack in Yala's Bannang Sata district yesterday.
The attack, which authorities have linked to the southern violence and say could be a reprisal measure, took place in front of a rubber wood factory on 410 Yala-Betong Road in Ban Bannang-guwae in tambon Bannang Sata.
A combined force of police, troops and administrative officers arrived at the scene and found pools of blood in a pickup truck.
Doromae Darasae, 54, his wife A-eeso Hengdada, 49, and their daughter Nureeman Darasae were critically injured from gunshot wounds and died on the way to hospital.
Their nephew Sulaiman Kosawat was hurt and remained hospitalised.
A-eeso was shot in the face and chest while Nureeman was shot in the head.
Police say the family members were travelling in the vehicle from a market to their home when gunmen in a pickup truck attacked them with M16 assault rifles.
The vehicle skidded into the road shoulder.
Police said the attackers headed to Than To district of Yala after the shooting.
Investigators said the couple's son, Abdulhakim Darasae, who was a village defence volunteer in Bannang Sata, escaped unhurt in a bomb attack in Ban Bannang-guwae on Feb 16.
Authorities blamed southern insurgents for the attack on the family.
The assault could be linked to the murder of Muktar Aleemama, a suspected command leader of southern insurgents, and his 6-year-old son on Thursday, authorities said. They did not elaborate.