NARATHIWAT (Thailand) - SUSPECTED separatist rebels have shot dead three soldiers and two civilians in Thailand's insurgency-hit far south, police said on Monday.

Troops were inspecting a road to a school in Narathiwat - one of three southern Muslim-majority provinces beset by unrest - when dozens of insurgents opened fire early on Monday, killing two soldiers.

The attackers fled the scene after a 10-minute gun battle, police said, and about 300 security officials were deployed to hunt for the rebels.

Later in the neighbouring province of Yala, another army convoy was ambushed by suspected militants, with one soldier killed and three injured.

Also in Yala on Sunday, an informant for the military was shot dead, while in a separate attack the same evening a local government employee was shot and killed in front of his house, police said.

More than 3,500 people have been killed since separatist unrest erupted almost five years ago in the Muslim-majority far south.

Tensions have simmered since Thailand annexed the mainly Malay sultanate in 1902. -- AFP