A prominent doctor and his seven friends were shot dead by unknown gunmen who stormed into his resident in Thailand's southern Songkhla province, local police said on Sunday.
Suthathip Thammachart, the director of a hospital in Songkhla province, and seven friends visiting her home were killed in the attack before dawn Sunday, police said.
However, officials said the murders were unrelated to the insurgency in the region, the Bangkok Post said on its website.
Reports said the reason for the attack was still under investigation. The health ministry, however, said it was confident that insurgents were not involved.
"The shooting was not related with violence in nearby provinces," the ministry's deputy permanent secretary, Pipat Yingseree, said in a statement issued in Bangkok.
Insurgents have been active in Songkhla province, although most of the southern violence is in Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani -- three provinces below Songkhla. The daily attacks in the region have claimed more than 2,800 lives since the insurgency resumed in early 2004.
Source:Xinhua
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