Village head killed in unrest southern Thailand

A deputy village chief was shot dead in Thailand's insurgent deep south on Friday.

The 58-year-old Nual Dindaeng was shot twice in the head as he and his wife traveled in their pickup truck to a market in the southern province of Narathiwat, Bangkok Post on Saturday quoted a local police officer as saying.

The killing was conducted by two gunmen on a motorcycle, who overtook Nual's truck and the pillion rider opened fire with a .38pistol.

Police believed the latest attack belonged to the region's unceased violence that has claimed the lives of more than 800 people in the past 19 months.

Thailand's deep south has fallen into escalating violence since the beginning of last year, when revived local separatists started attacks on both officials and civilians on an almost daily basis.

Source: Xinhua