1 killed, 1 injured in shooting case in S Thailand

BANGKOK, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- An assistant village headman was killed and a woman vendor seriously wounded in a shooting case Thursday morning in violence-plagued deep South of Thailand, local police said.

Bangkok Post online quoted police as saying that the shooting could be either a local political conflict, or the terror-spreading effort by suspected separatist militants.

Pol Col Chatchai Wongsuna, police chief of Pattani province's Nong Chik district, said Arming Tohsamoh, 44, assistant chief of a village, was attacked by two gunmen on a motorcycle while he was leaving a roadside market.

He was shot four times in his body and was pronounced dead soon after sent to Pattani hospital.

Rorgiyoh Sa-ah, a nearby vendor, was also hit by two bullets in her chest and taken to the hospital.

Thailand's deep South, which includes mainly the three southernmost provinces Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat as well as some parts of Songkla province, has bogged down in violence by separatists for years, during which at least 3,131 people were killed.

A total of 9,947 violent incidents happened in this area since January 2004 to July 2009, with 5,162 shootings, 1,612 bombings and 1,403 arsons, according to the data released by Southern Border Police Operations Center in early August.