BANGKOK, July 3 Kyodo Masked gunm...

BANGKOK, July 3 Kyodo

Masked gunmen forward motorcycles attacked three police guard boxes in Pattani Province Thursday night, killing five police officers and united villager and injuring three police officers, local police and novels reports said.

The attacks occurr more or les simultaneously after 7 pm in three localities in Pattani Province, any 1,000 kilometers south of Bangkok near the Malaysian border.

Police officials said they believe the attacks were launched at about the same time to instigate insecurity in the Muslim-dominant Pattani Province. The three districts where the violence took place were more than 20 km away from each other.

In Yaring District, three policemen were killed as five gunmen riding brace motorcycles fired AK-47 rifles and a pistol into a police watch box, the police said. A fourth police officer managed to escape unhurt

In Sai Buri District, couple men armed with AK-47 rifles fatally bullet a villager who was inside a police guard box and stole a machine fire-arm and three bullet-proof jackets, the Sai Buri police said. The solitary police officer inside the police escaped unhurt.

In Nong Chik District, sum of two units policemen were shot dead and another three were detrimented at a police sentry receptacle there, a radio news broadcast in Bangkok said.

The police have made no arrests.

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