A village headman and his 7-year- old son were severely injured in a drive-by shooting by suspected insurgents Sunday morning in Thailand's restive southern province of Pattani, local media reported.

Wae-abdulroman Sama, 40, and his son, Waemuhamadalrafan Sama, were shot on a bus of the Aziz Sathan Foundation School at 7:30 am (0030 GMT) on road in Muang district.

Witnesses were quoted by news network The Nation as saying that Wae-abdulroman Sama, the head of Moo 3 Village, was driving the bus to pick up students when two men on a motorcycle caught up with the bus and the pillion rider opened fire at him with an AK- 47 assault rifle.

The bullets hit him twice on his chest and hit the head of his son sitting behind him.

Pattani and its neighboring provinces of Yala and Narathiwat have been hit by insurgents on an almost daily basis and nearly 2, 200 persons have died in over three years of violence.

Source: Xinhua