SONGKHLA: Three armed militants were killed as they tried to break through security forces surrounding a study centre on the grounds of a mosque in Chana district early yesterday.
Soldiers accompanied by two armoured vehicles surrounded a Koran learning centre at Khok Khet mosque in tambon Ban Na about 5.30am, said Col Kiatsak Neewong, public relations chief of the southern office of the Internal Security Operations Command.
They had heard that three separatist militants named on several arrest warrants were hiding there.
Local officials, Islamic leaders and relatives tried in vain to persuade the suspects to surrender. Instead, three armed men ran out of the building and started shooting, Col Kiatsak said.
The soldiers returned fire and the three men were killed. The men were armed with two rifles and a handgun.
They were identified as Sattha Awae, Surin Kaseng and Adinan Doloh.
Col Kiatsak said they were wanted under arrest warrants for crimes in Na Thawi, Chana, Saba Yoi and Thepha districts of Songkhla, and had eluded previous attempts to capture them.