Two Muslims killed in troubled Thai south

Two Muslim men were shot dead by suspected separatist insurgents in Thailand's restive deep south, police said on Wednesday.

Both attacks took place in Pattani, one of three mainly Muslim provinces bordering Malaysia where nearly 3,500 people have been killed in violence since 2004.

Gunmen riding on a motorcycle shot and killed a defence volunteer as he returned from night duty at a military outpost in the province's Muang district. Separately, another man was found dead with gunshot wounds in Nong Chik district, police said.

Although ethnic Malay rebels have mostly attacked symbols of the Thai state, Muslims working for the local government or those suspected of being police informants are often killed in the far south, a region annexed by Buddhist Thailand a century ago.

Most of the victims of the violence have been Muslims, which has fed speculation about extrajudicial killings by security forces and state-armed Buddhist defence volunteers.

YALA, Thailand, July 15 (Reuters)