BANGKOK, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Three army soldiers were killed at point-blank range by unknown gunmen on Thursday night in southernmost Thailand, police said.
The army soldiers, identified as Sgt. Ahamad Sama-ali, Pvt. Thanakorn Chimthongdonkhu and Pvt. Narongsak Mamui, were shopping at a night market in Mayo district of Pattani, about 1,050 km south of the Thai capital, when the gunmen suddenly approached and shot them in the head, the police said.
They were attached to a base of Pattani Task Force 25, only a few km from the market.
One villager was injured with a gunshot in the leg and rushed to hospital.
The gunmen, believed to be Deep South insurgents, are still at large, the police said.
The fatal attack on the three soldiers in Pattani closely followed Thursday's ambush on a running pickup truck by a group of gunmen in the neighboring Narathiwat province, which killed four villagers, including an eight-year-old child.
