PATTANI : A five-year-old girl was killed by gunmen attempting to kill her father in Pattani's Panare district late on Saturday night, police said.
Adisorn Masah, 35, the chief of Village Group 5 in tambon Pho Ming, told police that while preparing to drive his wife into Panare with his five-year-old daughter, Sunfar Masah, three or four men emerged from a roadside bush and opened fire.
His daughter, a student at Santichon Islamic School, was hit in the head by an AK47 bullet.
Mr Adisorn escaped unharmed. His pickup truck was riddled with bullet holes. Sunfar was pronounced dead on the way to Panare Hospital.
The attack took place about 10pm.
Police at the scene recovered 20 AK47 shells. Sunfar was the third child to be killed in the deep South this year.
Nine-year-old Nisofian Nisani was killed on March 25 in a bomb attack on an ice-cream shop on Suwanmongkol Road in Pattani's Muang district.
Earlier this month, two-year-old Musa Samaae was killed from a gun wound to the stomach.
On Saturday, attackers shot defence volunteer Kamani Mama, 56, to death while he walked home on Sagor-Sungai Padi Road at Ban Jue Rae of tambon Riko in Narathiwat's Sungai Padi district.
Police believe insurgents are to blame for the shooting.
On the same day, Suwae Uma, 22 and a 17-year-old female were shot while riding a motorbike, and seriously injured. Suwae was pronounced dead on the way to hospital. Police are investigating.
Combined police-military forces yesterday conducted a pre-dawn raid on an insurgent hideout in Ban Kado of Narathiwat's Rueso district. By the time the forces arrived at the hideout, the insurgents had fled.