A man was killed and his wife wounded in a drive-by shooting in Sai Buri district of Pattani yesterday.

Naruedom Thaem-ngern, 46, and his wife, Leun Saiyos, 42, were driving home when they stopped at a petrol station on Pattani-Narathiwat 42 Road.

Two men on a motorcycle rode past and fired shots at the couple, killing Naruedom and injuring Ms Luen, who was taken to a local hospital.

In Yala, two police and a drug trafficking suspect were injured by a roadside bomb blast in Muang district yesterday, police said.

Officers from Patae subdistrict were travelling in a pickup truck transporting the suspect to Yala provincial court on a local road in Moo 3 in tambon Yala when a 20kg bomb, packed inside a fire extinguisher, was detonated, police said.

The bomb was left in a water drainage pipe under the road, and was attached to a detonation chord.

Pol Lt Thanawat Boonmak, 25, Pol Sgt Paosee Samae, 30, and drug trafficking suspect Asming Alee, 21, were slightly wounded in the blast.

All three were admitted to Yala provincial Hospital for treatment.

Police blamed separatist militants for the attack.

Meanwhile, a religious expert in the far South says that militants are using a new intimidation tactic to prevent people from from cooperating with local authorities and security forces.

The expert, who requested anonymity, said parcels containing a bag of rice, a 20 baht banknote and a bullet have been left on the doorsteps of some residents in the troubled southernmost provinces.

Similar parcels are left as offerings for the dead according to local customs, so they would be seen as a veiled threat.

The expert said leaflets were also being distributed in strife-prone areas threatening people who cooperate with authorities in suppressing the insurgency.

The discovery of the parcels comes in the wake of persistent threats by insurgents to attack businesses that remained open on Friday, the traditional day of rest observed by some Muslims.

Religious leaders, however, insisted that Friday is not a compulsory off-day, and said it is not un-Islamic to conduct trade on that day.

But despite security assurances from authorities, nervous business owners and vendors have kept their shops closed for two Fridays in a row, with the closures expanding as customers continue to stay away in fear. The religious expert said the parcel threat has dealt a further blow to southern peace.