Eight soldiers were killed and six wounded in ambushes by suspected separatist militants in Thailand's rebellious Muslim south this morning.
The soldiers were ambushed after escorting teachers to schools close to a village in Narathiwat province, the military said A military Humvee was blown up by a roadside bomb, and at least 20 militants attacked, it was reported.
Bomb squads defused a second roadside bomb meant to hit officials rushing to the scene, police said.
Another group of soldiers escorting teachers also clashed with militants, and two were wounded. Teachers have often been targeted during four years of separatist insurgency as a symbol of the largely Buddhist state
Suspected militants also disrupted the mobile phone network in the three southernmost provinces, where 2,800 people have been killed in the latest insurgency in the former sultanate populated largely by ethnic Malays.
It was reported rebels had set several transmission towers on fire.