Two defence volunteers died when armed men broke into a factory early on Friday in the southern Thai province of Narathiwat and started shooting, police said, blaming the attack on insurgents.
Local police officials said around 20 assailants broke into the factory compound at around 2.45am (1945 GMT on Thursday) and shot at the defence volunteers, who fired back.
Two defence volunteers were killed on the spot and three were seriously wounded. The gunmen fled, taking four of the volunteers' weapons with them.
A separatist rebellion in three southern provinces flared up in 2004 and the region has been plagued by almost daily bombings and shootings ever since.
Muslims form the majority of the population in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat provinces bordering Malaysia. Thailand is a predominantly Buddhist country.
On Tuesday, January 3, two Buddhist soldiers were killed in a blast in Pattani, police officials said. Insurgents were believed to have buried a bomb under a road and triggered the explosion under an army pick-up truck.
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