Army officer shot dead in southern Thailand

Four gunmen shot dead an army officer in a market in Thailand's southern border province Pattani on Friday morning, Thai media reported.

Master Sergeant 2nd Class Wichai Khamhom, 38, was patrolling a market in Tambon Ban Klang of Panare district when four militants, who arrived on two motorcycles, attacked him at around 7:30 a.m., reports from Thai media group The Nation and Bangkok Post quoted police as saying.

Wichai was shot once in his head and was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead. A soldier standing next to him narrowly missed the shot.

The militants took away his M-16 assault rifle and fled on the motorcycles. Police are trying to track down the suspects, and had help from local witnesses in the village, but the insurgents placed spikes on the road to slow pursuit.

The shooting took place when many villagers went to the morning market to buy fresh goods, causing chaos for some time.

Pattani is among the three southernmost provinces, the other two being Narathiwat and Yala, that have seen over 1,700 lives killed in insurgent unrest since January 2004.

Source: Xinhua