Suspect insurgents shot dead two Muslim men around midday Wednesday in Thailand's southern Yala province, local police said.

Mada-oh Ma, 34, and his father-in-law Mayi Luma, 70, were gunned down in a drive-by shooting in Bannang Sata district when they were riding a motorcycle on their way home around noon on wednesday.

Mayi and Mada-oh shot in the head and died on the spot, police said.

Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani are the three southern border provinces plagued with violence related to an ongoing insurgency which has claimed more than 1,900 lives since it resumed in early 2004. The violence was blamed on a complex web of Islamic separatists, local corruption and organized crime.

Source: Xinhua