(3 Apr 2007) SHOTLIST
1. Various of injured in ambulance, arriving at the hospital
People outside the hospital
2. Various of injured being treated in hospital
Various of security
3. Various of police at scene of gun battle
4. Cartridge cases on road
5. Motorcycles by the side of the road
6. Police at scene of shooting
7. Body at scene close up of hand holding pistol
8. Police officer pointing, tilt down to dead body
9. Close of pistol
10. Two men handcuffed
Police at scene
11. Police standing near dead body
12. Close up of dead body
13. Close up of ID card
STORYLINE
Three policemen died in a gun battle with suspected Muslim militants in southern Thailand on Tuesday in the latest violence to hit the troubled region.
Two suspected insurgents were also killed in the 30-minute gunfight in Pattani province, according to the area's Police Radio Centre, which coordinates information about security.
Two bystanders were wounded when they were caught in the cross-fire.
The incident was a rare example of open combat between the authorities and the rebels. Suspected insurgents usually engage in hit-and-run attacks, such as drive-by shootings and small bombings, as well as ambushes from which they quickly flee.
The attack came on the same day that the military said it was considering a ban on unauthorised possession of three to five inch (7.5-to-12.5-centimetre) carpentry nails in the country's three southernmost provinces, where Islamic insurgents strew them on roads to puncture car tires prior to staging attacks.
Applying such a restriction would depend upon it not affecting construction projects, according to Major General Chamlong Khunsong, the deputy commander of the army's southern region.
The new rules would be applied under the provisions of martial law, imposed in the strife-ridden southern provinces as well as other areas of the country, he said.
Chamlong said the nails were often spread across the roads to distract and slow down police and military authorities who were rushing to shooting or bombing scenes. Civilian drivers were also vulnerable to attack when they stopped after their tyres were punctured.
Chamlong added that a plan to impose restrictions on motorcycle riders in southern Thailand, where insurgents riding pillion often carried out drive-by shootings, would likely be implemented this week. The measure bans male riders accompanying motorcycle drivers.
The authorities have been broadcasting news of the pending motorcycle restrictions over local radio stations and will make them official once the public is well-informed, he said.
More than 2-thousand people have died since January 2004 in the provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani as a result of the separatist insurgency.
Government measures to quell the violence have failed to make any headway.
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