| Three Muslims have been shot dead by suspected rebels in separate attacks in ThailandÂ’s insurgency-torn south, police said Saturday. A 77-year-old woman was killed Saturday by militants in her house in Yala, one of three restive provinces bordering Malaysia, and a 40-year-old Muslim man was shot dead in front of a mosque in a drive-by shooting in nearby Pattani. In neighbouring Narathiwat province, a 35-year-old man was gunned down late Friday by insurgents in a drive-by shooting while he was riding a motorcycle. More than 2,600 people have been killed since a separatist insurgency broke out in January 2004 in the Muslim-majority south. Violence has been escalating in the region despite a raft of peace measures introduced by the army-backed government, which came to power following last yearÂ’s bloodless coup ousting premier Thaksin Shinawatra. The Muslim-majority region was annexed by mainly Buddhist Thailand a century ago and separatist tensions have simmered since. |