Three killed in Ramadan violence in restive Thai south

Two people, including a 14-year-old boy, were killed in a market place bombing in Thailand's Muslim-majority south, a military spokesman said Tuesday -- an apparent retaliatory attack for the killing of a wanted rebel leader.

Thailand's three southernmost provinces, Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, have since 2004 been plagued with conflict between ethnic Malay-Muslim rebels and the Buddhist-majority Thai state, which annexed the region around a century ago.

Around 7,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in violence that rarely makes international headlines despite taking place a few hours south of some of Thailand's tourist hotspots.

On Monday afternoon, the insurgents detonated a motorcycle bomb at a crowded market place in Nong Chik, Pattani province, killing two civilians.

"A 14-year-old boy and a 38-year-old woman died," Colonel Thanawee Suwannathat, spokesman for the southern army, told AFP.

Four military rangers were wounded in the blast.

The bombing appeared to be in ...