Three dead in Thai south violence

BANGKOK- Three people were shot dead in a night of violence across Thailand’s restive deep south, in apparently coordinated attacks coinciding with a visit by the new minister for the Muslim-majority region.

The assaults began late Wednesday and rippled out over a wide area in the following hours with shootings, arson and bombings as well as the unfurling of banners decrying Thailand, which colonized the region more than a century ago.