SONGKHLA: Three armed militants were killed as they tried to break through security forces surrounding a study centre on the grounds of a mosque in Chana district early Thursday morning.
Soldiers accompanied by two armoured vehicles surrounded a Koran learning centre at Khok Khet mosque in tambon Ban Na about 5.30am, Col Kiatsak Neewong, PR chief of the southern office of the Internal Security Operations Command, said.
They were acting on information that three separatist militants named on several arrest warrrants were hiding there.
Local officials, Islamic leaders and relatives tried to persuade the suspects to surrender. They did not.
Instead, three armed men ran out of the building and opened fire at them, Col Kiatsak said. The soldiers returned fire and the three men were killed. The men were armed with two rifles and a handgun.
They were identified as Sattha Awae, Surin Kaseng and Adinan Doloh.
Col Kiatsak said the three were wanted under arrest warrants for several alleged crimes in Na Thawi, Chana, Saba Yoi and Thepha districts of Songkhla, and had escaped several previous attempts to capture them.
