Three killed, one wounded in clash in insurgency-troubled Yala province

YALA, June 27 (TNA) — A Thai soldier, a police officer and a suspected insurgent died, and one soldier was wounded in a clash early Saturday in Bannang Sata district of the insurgency-troubled southern province of Yala, police said.

Police said combined police and military forces clashed with an unknown number of suspected insurgents at a house after surrounding it.

Government forces rushed to the house after receiving a tip from villagers that the militants were hiding there.

During the clash, one suspected militant for whom police had earlier issued an arrest warrant was shot dead along with a soldier and a police officer, police said, adding that they had also seized one automatic rifle.

One soldier was shot in the head and was sent to a hospital for treatment, they said.

Some suspected insurgents remained in the house while government forces were negotiating for them to surrender. Village chiefs were also asked to join the negotiation process, but the militants refused to surrender, police said.

More than 3,500 people have been killed in the three troubled southern provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat since renewed violence erupted in January 2004. (TNA)