One killed, 9 wounded in Thai Muslim south attacks

Policemen and soldiers inspect the wreckage of an army vehicle after a bomb attack by suspected Muslim militants occurred on a roadside in southern Thailand's Narathiwat province, June 8, 2009.

NARATHIWAT, Thailand (Reuters) - Suspected Muslim insurgents killed a rubber tapper and a roadside bomb wounded nine soldiers in Thailand's restive deep south, police said on Monday.

The separate attacks took place in Narathiwat, one of three mainly Muslim provinces near the Malaysian border, where more than 30,000 troops have struggled to quell five years of unrest.

The Buddhist rubber tapper was shot dead early on Monday by unknown gunmen riding on motorcycles in the province's Rangae district, police said.

In neighbouring Rueso district, nine soldiers were wounded, one seriously, when a powerful roadside bomb exploded under their pickup truck.

Nine people have been killed since Friday in a spate of shootings and bombings in the deep south, where a separatist rebellion has killed more than 3,000 people since January 2004.

No credible group has stated its goals for claimed responsibility for any of the attacks in the region, an independent Muslim sultanate until annexed by predominantly Buddhist Thailand a century ago.