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Eight Thai soldiers have been killed by suspected Muslim separatist rebels in the violence-hit south, according to an army spokesman.

The soldiers were on escort duty in Narathiwat province, which borders Malaysia, when the ambush took place.

The attack was one of the deadliest in the current conflict in the south, where separatist rebels are fighting for an Islamic state.

More than 2,700 people have died since the violence escalated in early 2004.

School escort

The attack in Narathiwat took place around 0940 (0240 GMT) as the soldiers returned after escorting schoolteachers to work.

Police say a roadside bomb exploded as the soldiers drove past.

Attackers then shot dead survivors as they tried to escape.

Officials say one soldier was beheaded, and one report quotes an army spokesman as saying attempts were apparently made to behead the others too.


VIOLENCE-HIT SOUTH
Map
Home to most of Thailand's 4% Muslim minority
Suspected militants have upped attacks since 2004, targeting Buddhists
Security forces' response criticised by rights groups

Thailand's restive south

Militants have targeted teachers in the past, perceiving them as a symbol of domination by the Thai state, and so soldiers now provide an armed escort.

Two other soldiers escorting teachers were wounded in a separate clash in neighbouring Yala province.

Rebels also disrupted the mobile phone network in the region by attacking transmission towers.

Over the years there has been periodic unrest in the Muslim-majority provinces of Yala, Narathiwat, Songkhla and Pattani, annexed a century ago by mainly-Buddhist Thailand.

But in January 2004, a raid on an army depot marked the start of a new level of insurgency.

Last year, US-based group Human Rights Watch warned that the violence was turning increasingly brutal, with the majority of victims innocent civilians.

Critics accused overthrown prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra of exacerbating the unrest with a tough stance towards the rebels.

Since the military coup of 2006, officials have offered talks and a softer approach from the security forces. But this has failed to reduce the violence, with attacks occurring on an almost daily basis.

The BBC's Jonathan Head, reporting from Bangkok, says the rebels have a powerful hold over much of the ethnic Malay community in southern Thailand.

He says the increasing savagery of their attacks has now created a chasm of mistrust between Muslims and Buddhists in the south which the authorities will find hard to bridge.