Militants kill 4 Thai troops

Militants shot dead four soldiers and wounded two others early yesterday in Thailand's volatile south, an army spokesman said, as a surge in violence since the start of Ramadan continued.
The group of six soldiers was attacked as they patrolled a road in the Mayo district of Pattani province.
"About 20 armed militants on three pick up trucks opened fire at a team of soldiers once they get close to them," Colonel Pramote Prom-in, southern army spokesman, told AFP.
The incident came after a roadside bomb killed five policemen in nearby Yala province on Wednesday.
A shadowy insurgency, without clearly stated aims, has raged in Thailand's three southernmost provinces -- Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala -- since 2004.
Daily bomb or gun attacks have targeted soldiers and civilians, Buddhists and Muslims, claiming more than 5,000 lives in eight years.