BANGKOK, THAILAND - Troops clashed with suspected Muslim insurgents in southern Thailand at dawn on Friday in a gunbattle that killed a soldier and a militant, the army said, the latest violence in the restive region bordering Malaysia.

Two soldiers were also wounded by gunfire while entering the home of suspected bomb-maker Mohammad Sarai in Yala province at dawn, said Colonel Yutthana Petchmuang.

Soldiers shot dead Sarai, who had several arrest warrants against him including one for murdering a policeman in 2005.

Other gunmen fled through the back of the house.

More than 4,000 people, both Muslims and Buddhists, have been killed in six years of unrest in Thailand's southernmost provinces as ethnic Malay Muslims fight for autonomy from the country's Buddhist majority in the rubber-rich region.

Separately, a Muslim village chief was gunned down Thursday night while driving in Pattani province from a mosque. Police blamed Islamic insurgents bent on stirring communal violence.

The rebels often target Buddhists and Muslims associated with the Thai state, such as police, government officials and school teachers. Muslim villagers also complain of arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings by state-linked security forces.

The three southern provinces - Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat - were part of a Malay Muslim sultanate until annexed by Thailand in 1909. About 80 percent of the population are Muslim.