1 killed in mosque attack in Thailand's south

A group of gunmen on Monday opened fire at a mosque in Thailand's insurgency-plagued south, killing one man and injuring another after the start of Ramadan on the weekend, The Associated Press reported, citing police. 

Police Col. Panyawat Petchum said an unknown number of suspected insurgents armed with rifles fired multiple shots into the mosque in the Panare district in Pattani province where about a dozen Muslims were praying.

He said the pre-dawn attack Monday left a 66-year-old man dead and a 47-year-old man with gunshot wounds in his arm and leg.

Panyawat said the attackers fled the scene.

More than 5,000 people have been killed since an Islamic insurgency erupted in Thailand's Muslim-dominant southern border provinces in 2004.

Sporadic insurgency attacks have started in Thailand's restive sub-region since the beginning of the Ramadan fast for the Muslim holy month over the weekend. On Sunday, one soldier and one civilian were killed in separate drive-by shootings in Yala and Pattani provinces.