YALA - SUSPECTED separatist insurgents have shot dead three people including a soldier in Thailand's Muslim-majority far south, police said on Tuesday.

A 41-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman - both employees of the state-owned telephone operator - were killed in a drive-by shooting as they travelled together in a car in Pattani province on Monday evening.

Later that night in the same province, a 43-year-old soldier was shot dead and six troops were injured after they were ambushed by a group of rebels who are fighting for a separate state in the three far-southern Thai provinces.

More than 3,500 people have been killed since separatist unrest erupted almost five years ago in the deep south. Tensions have simmered since Thailand annexed the mainly Malay sultanate in 1902. -- AFP