Pattani, Thailand - Thai security forces fought with suspected Muslim militants in Narathiwat province Monday in a clash that left three insurgents dead and two captured, army sources said.

Insurgents killed two villagers in separate incidents in Pattani province, part of Thailand's southernmost region where 3,700 people have fallen victim to sectarian violence over the past five years.

A 50-strong military unit entered the Sri Sakorn village of Narathiwat, 750 kilometres south of Bangkok, at 6:00 am, after being tipped off that insurgents were in the area, Joint Police-Army Task Force Commander Lt Gen Kasikorn Kirisri said.

"There was a 10-minute clash that killed three of the insurgents, and two others captured," Kasikorn said.

In Pattani province, suspected insurgents killed Aduldoleh Banmusong, a plantation worker, and Lau Yalee, a fish stall owner, in two separate early morning attacks Monday.

"The insurgents are trying to spread our forces thin and create confusion by launching separate incidents in different places at the same time," Kasikorn said.

After five years of violence in the three-province region bordering Malaysia, there is no sign of an abatement in the conflict, which has killed an estimated 3,700 people over the past five years.

Of the 300,000 Thai Buddhists who used to live in the region, about 70,000 have left since separatists raided an army depot in January 2004, killing four soldiers and making off with 300 weapons, leading to an escalation of the region's long-simmering separatist struggle.

The incident sparked a series of brutal government crackdowns on the separatist movement, which turned much of the area's 2 million people, 80 per cent of whom are Muslim, against the central government.

Although the region, which centuries ago was the independent Islamic sultanate of Pattani, was conquered by Bangkok about 200 years ago, it has never wholly submitted to Thai rule.

Analysts said the region's Muslim population, the majority of whom speak a Malay dialect and follow Malay customs, feels alienated from the predominantly Buddhist Thai state. (dpa)