Three people, including a village head, were killed in the latest violence in Thailand's insurgent southernmost provinces over the weekend.

A 35-year-old deputy village chief was shot dead on Friday midnight when walking back from a security check on a local school in the province of Yala, Bangkok Post reported on Sunday.

In neighboring Pattani Province, a 29-year-old villager was shot twice in the head and died immediately at the scene of attack.

In the other southern province of Songkhla, a 41-year-old man was shot dead five times at home by unidentified gunmen.

Over the weekend, the restive deep south experienced other sporadic attacks, including one ambush against a police station and a bomb attack along the railway in Yala.

The attacks left one defense volunteer seriously injured and a police lance-corporal slightly wounded.

Local separatists were believed to be responsible for the latest wave of violence, Bangkok Post quoted anonymous police source as saying.

Thailand's southernmost provinces have fallen into spiraling violence since the beginning of last year, when revived separatist movement robbed a military arsenal and killed four soldiers.

Since then, the ongoing violence has claimed around 680 lives, including civilians, security officers and insurgents.

In a related movement, the Deputy Prime Minister Chaturon Chaisaeng on Saturday presented financial assistance to locals affected by violence during his visit to the region.

The 5.8-million-baht (138,000-US dollar) fund was given to 64 people wounded the violence and to the relatives of 37 people killed.

Source: Xinhua