In Thailand, suspected separatist militants shot dead five civilians in attacks across the country's restive south. Police today said a 33-year-old man was gunned down in the driveway of his home as he returned from a party in Yala last night. In a separate incident on the same night, a 43-year-old local administration chief was shot dead at his home in Pattani province. Also in Pattani, three Buddhist men were killed while they were transporting chickens to a slaughterhouse last night. The wave of violence comes as a new commander takes charge of Thailand's armed forces in the troubled southern border provinces. More than 4,300 people, both civilians and security personnel, have been killed in the Muslim-majority region since a separatist insurgency erupted more than six years ago.