Two soldiers were killed and three others critically wounded in an ambush by militants in Rueso district of Narathiwat province on Sunday morning, reports said.
Two soldiers are killed and three others critically wounded in an ambush in Narathiwat on Sunday. (Photo by Wassayos Ngamkham)
The incident occurred at 11.20am on a road inside Kuyi village in tambon Talo while soldiers of Infantry Company 15124 were travelling in a patrol vehicle.
The militants hiding on the roadside detonated the bomb and opened fire. An exchange of gunfire followed.
Mst-Sgt Piyapong Impram, the driver, and Pvt Kritikorn Muenlin were killed. Three other soldiers were wounded.
Noppadon Pattama, legal adviser to fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, said on Sunday that Thaksin had travelled to meet religious leaders in Malaysia in an effort to help bring peace to southern Thailand.
"Pol Lt Col Thaksin hopes that the religious leaders in Malaysia will send a sign to the religious leaders in Thailand that the Thai government is sincere in solving the southern unrest," Mr Noppadon said.
Thaksin did not go to Malaysia to meet leaders of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) separatist movement, he added.
A Dusit Poll survey showed that many people in the deep South reject the five demands issued by the BRN.
The survey was conducted between May 2 and 4, 2013, involving 542 respondents in the three southern border provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala and the southern province of Songkhla.
Of the total, 65.18% said they found it difficult to accept the BRN's demands on Thai authorities because they believed the southern separatist group did not have enough rights to make them. The respondents said the BRN's conditions were not reasonable enough and also violated the law.
Meanwhile, 40.05% said they wanted the government to be sincere in solving the southern unrest and for peace to be attained in the far South as quickly as possible.
And 34.62% said the govenment should be more cautious in negotiating with the BRN to prevent the group from taking advantage of the Thai side.
