4 soldiers shot dead in Thailand's insurgency-plagued south

Thai police say four soldiers have been killed in an attack on a rural road in the country's violence-plagued south.
Police Col Lukman Bakoh says the soldiers were traveling in a personal car when a group of more than five suspected insurgents started to open fire at them on a road in Raman district in Yala province.
He said today the attackers used rifles until the vehicle stopped, then they pulled the officers from the vehicle and fired at them repeatedly.
Lukman said the attackers also stole three rifles and a pistol from the soldiers before fleeing the scene.
Yala is one of the three Muslim-majority provinces in predominantly Buddhist Thailand.

More than 5,000 people have been killed since an Islamic insurgency began in the region in 2004.