Two killed, policeman wounded in Thai south

Suspected Muslim separatists shot two rubber tappers and a bomb wounded one officer investigating the killings on Sunday in Thailand's rebellious south, police said.

The couple was shot dead on their motorcycle as they were on their way to tap rubber in Yala, one of the three southern provinces caught up in a separatist insurgency in which more than 3,000 people have been killed since 2003.

"The husband was then beheaded and his head was left about 50 metres away," a police officer said.

As police were investigating the scene, a bomb exploded, wounding one officer seriously, he said.

The rebels have never revealed themselves publicly or claimed responsibility for the violence, which has remained limited to the rubber-producing region abutting the Malaysian border.

It was a Muslim sultanate until annexed by predominantly Buddhist Thailand a century ago.

In an incident at the start of this month two soldiers were shot dead and then beheaded last week as they guarded teachers going to school in the region.

Before that two paramilitary rangers were shot dead and decapitated in the region.

- Reuters