BANGKOK (Reuters) - Militants fired on an army outpost and killed three villagers in separate attacks in Thailand's restive Muslim south, police said on Sunday, days after an unknown rebel group declared a ceasefire.
One soldier was wounded when a grenade exploded at theoutpost late on Saturday in Pattani, one of three southernmostprovinces where more than 3,000 people have been killed inseparatist attacks since 2004.
Also in Pattani, three Muslim villagers were shot dead bysuspected militants, police said.
Thai authorities feared a spike in violence after theunknown Thailand United Southern Underground announced a"ceasefire" last week that was dismissed by army officials andsecurity experts who said its leaders had no influence in theregion.
The Thai army identified the group's leader as MalipengKhan, a separatist active in the 1980s who had failed to unifyinsurgent factions in the region annexed by predominatelyBuddhist Thailand a century ago.
Since the latest violence erupted in 2004, the shadowyrebels have never revealed themselves publicly or claimedresponsibility for the near daily gun and bomb attacks in therubber-producing region bordering Malaysia.
Thai media attention has focused on Chettha Thanajaro, aformer defence minister and leader of a minor party inThailand's coalition government, who announced the"breakthrough" on Thursday after a year of talks with 11separatist groups.
"It was somewhere between a cheap political ploy aimed atputting pressure on the Malay Muslim insurgents in the deepsouth, or a desperate bid for free publicity," the Nationnewspaper said in an editorial on Friday.
"Either way, former army chief-turned-politician ChetthaThanajaro ... has raised more questions that he has answered."
(Reporting by Surapan Boonthanom; Editing by DarrenSchuettler and Alex Richardson)
