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.