A retired soldier and a former official of the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre (SBPAC) were both slain in the insurgency-plagued southern provinces of Pattani and Yala yesterday.
The first killing happened in Pattani's Kapho district at 8am while Sub Lt Perm Petnui, a retired solider, was riding a motorcycle on a road in Ban Khao Sai of tambon Chang Haitok.
Assailants shot him and set fire to his body, investigators said. Sub Lt Perm was also the elder brother of Thung Yang Daeng district chief Sawate Petnui.
Authorities believed the attack was linked to the unrest in the deep South.
The other slaying was that of Wuthisak Suwan, a 62-year-old former director of a SBPAC unit on economic development for local communities.
He was found about 1.20pm in a pickup truck parked on the roadside on Highway 418 (Yala-Pattani) in tambon Thasap of Yala's Muang district.
He sustained a gunshot wound from a handgun.
According to an initial police investigation, Wuthisak was driving home from the downtown area of Yala's Muang district when an attacker in another car opened fire at him.
The assailant's car was later seen speeding off in the direction of Pattani.
A probe is under way to determine whether the attack was linked to the southern unrest or a personal conflict.
Meanwhile, security forces yesterday examined houses and a high-voltage power tower which came under a bomb and gun attack by Sai Bo Thong-Kuha road in tambon Bo Thong of Pattani's Nong Chik district about 10pm on Tuesday.
Grocery store owner Pairat Maneechot was wounded in the bomb blast.
His shop was badly damaged in the attack.
Several houses and a car were also found riddled with bullets.
An improvised explosive device was hidden at the electric tower to target officers who were travelling to investigate earlier gun attacks in the area, but the bomb went off before they came.
It was the second bomb attack in the area in recent months.