January 3, 2006	Tuesday	Zilhaj 2, 1426

BANGKOK, Jan 2: Insurgents beheaded a Thai soldier in the Muslim-dominated south of Thailand on Monday morning and wounded three other soldiers in the latest attack in the restive region, police said.

The four soldiers were ambushed by Muslim extremists while travelling down a road in Yala province, they said.

Police officials said they found the body of a beheaded soldier.

Two soldiers who were seriously wounded are in hospital, while one escaped with only minor injuries, the officials said. They did not give further details.

The attack marks the latest in a string of violent incidents in the far south, which has seen nearly two years of unrest in which more than 1,000 people have been killed. At least 10 of those deaths have come from beheadings.

The latest beheading comes only a day after Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai Vanasatidya said the government had fixed “40 per cent” of the problems in the south and that the situation would improve within months.—Reuters