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Naratihiwat (ANTARA News / Reuters) - A number of suspected militants have shot dead six villagers in the restive southern Thailand, Thursday, the latest attack in an area that borders Malaysia.

Villagers in Narathiwat province is believed to have been assaulted, said police Colonel Sanit Suwanno. Two bodies have been found in a pickup truck and four others found near a hilly forest, he added.

Meanwhile, 10 police and soldiers were also wounded when a roadside bomb exploded as they travel to places such shootings, according to police.

More than 3900 people have been killed in six years of mess when entik Muslim Malays struggled to gain autonomy from the predominantly Buddhist Thai government in the territory of which only a few hours by car from the tourist beaches of Thailand are very famous.

Most of the local Muslim residents oppose the presence of tens of thousands of police, soldiers and armed guards Buddhist countries in the region is rich in rubber. The county is part of the sultanate until annexed by Thailand's Malays a century ago.

Approximately 80 percent of the population in Thailand's three southern provinces namely Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, are Muslim.

The violence of the shootings with a ride lined up vehicle bombings and beheadings. Violence is often targeted against Buddhists and Muslims associated with the Thai state, such as police, soldiers, government officials and teachers.