Three rebels, two civilians killed in Thai south

By Surapan Boonthanom

YALA, Thailand (Reuters) - Three suspected rebels, one of whom had a 500,000 baht ($16,000) bounty on his head, and two civilians were killed in separate incidents in Thailand's rebellious Muslim south on Wednesday, police said.

One of the suspected rebels killed by soldiers was identified as 28-year-old Sunava Yako, believed to be a leading member of an insurgent group and carried the bounty, they said.

Sunava was riding on a motorcycle which soldiers chased after a 70-year-old Buddhist man was shot dead at a grocery store in Yala, one of the four southern provinces where more than 2,800 people have been killed in four years of insurgent violence.

The motorcycle driver was also killed. Both carried automatic pistols and police were checking to see how many other attacks they had been used in, Police Lieutenant General Adul Sangsingkaew told reporters.

"The country is fortunate to see these two men killed," Adul said.

The incident was the latest of a series over the past few days following several months of the relative absence of the daily bomb and gun attacks which have marked the latest insurgency in a majority ethnic Malay region.

Over the weekend, four people were killed and two dozen wounded in four separate bomb attacks on the weekend, including a rare car bomb attack on a leading hotel in the city of Pattani.

On Wednesday, a suspected Muslim rebel was shot dead and two were detained in Pattani province during a dawn raid of a Muslim village by 100 troops and police.