Three shot dead in night of violence in Thai south

In ruins: A military officer inspecting the site of a bomb attack in the Nong Chik district in Pattani. — Reuters

BANGKOK: Three people were shot dead in a night of violence across Thailand’s restive deep south, in apparently coordinated attacks coinciding with a visit by the new minister for the Muslim-majority region.

The assaults began late on Wednesday and rippled out over a wide area in the following hours with shootings, arson and bombings as well as the unfurling of banners decrying Thailand, which colonised the region over a century ago.