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Severed heads left next to bomb
10/08/2007 11:17 - (SA)
Narathiwat - Islamic separatists in southern Thailand dumped the heads of two decapitated men next to a roadside bomb in an upsurge of violence that has left 11 dead in three days, police said on Friday.
Militants beheaded the elderly Buddhist men inside their homes on Thursday and set the houses on fire.
Their heads were found later next to a bomb in the middle of a road several kilometres from their homes in Pattani province, police said.
Police had to defuse the device before they were could retrieve the heads, police Lieutenant Colonel Prathom Thammasek said.
Meanwhile two Muslim men, including a suspected militant wanted by police, were shot dead on Friday in separate attacks in neighbouring Narathiwat province.
Seven others killed
Seven other people were killed in incidents late on Wednesday and Thursday.
The restive Muslim-majority south of Thailand was once an autonomous Malay sultanate until Buddhist Thailand annexed it a century ago.
Separatist violence has flared periodically ever since, and more than 2 00 people have been killed since the latest unrest broke out in January 2004.
Attacks have intensified recently despite a crackdown by authorities which has seen more than 200 suspected militants detained, mostly without charge.
After the military seized power in Thailand last September, the post-coup government offered a series of olive branches to the militants but the unrest has only worsened.
This year it has stepped up military spending and deployed more security forces as part of a tougher approach to tackling the militants.
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