On Thursday evening at 6pm a 33-year-old man was shot dead while driving his wife home on a motorcycle from a market in Pattani province, they said, adding that his wife was unhurt.

In Yala province a 30-year-old man was shot dead in a drive-by shooting at 7.20 pm, the police said.

Three hours later in nearby Narathiwat province, a 30-year-old man was shot dead at his house, they said.

The following morning a 27-year-old man was shot and killed at 7am as he drove his motorcycle to work at a rubber plantation.

More than 3,400 people have been killed since separatist unrest erupted almost five years ago in the south of Thailand.

Tensions in the region have simmered since Thailand annexed the mainly ethnic Malay sultanate in 1902.

Attacks have become increasingly brutal as the insurgency drags on, with corpses sometimes mutilated or savagely stabbed. Bodies are often left in public areas. -- AFP