Ranger, militant killed in Thai south shootout

NARATHIWAT: A paramilitary ranger and a suspected militant were killed in a shootout early Thursday in Thailand's insurgency-torn south, an army spokesman said, as violence continues to rattle the region despite ongoing peace talks.

The clash took place as up to 40 paramilitary rangers, acting on a tip-off, closed in on a house in the Cho Ai Rong district of Narathiwat province just after midnight.

At least five suspected militants holding a meeting in the property opened fire as security forces tried to seal off the building, Colonel Pramote Promin told.

"One of our paramilitary rangers died -- another was wounded -- while one militant was killed and two of them arrested," he said, adding two other rebels escaped.

Thai police said a 46-year-old Buddhist grocery shop owner was also gunned down in another Narathiwat district in broad daylight on Wednesday.

The kingdom's authorities have been battling a festering insurgency since 2004 which has claimed more than 5,500 lives -- the majority of them civilians -- in Thailand's southernmost provinces bordering Malaysia.