Asia-Pacific News
Thai woman shot dead while reading Koran at husband's grave
Jan 21, 2012, 3:27 GMT
Bangkok - Unknown assailants killed a widow as she read the Koran at her husband's grave in Thailand's southern province of Pattani, reports said Saturday.
Joh Songsa, 49, was found dead Friday in front of the grave of her husband, who had been slain by what local police called Muslim militants, the Bangkok Post reported.
Police said Joh was shot in the back of the head in Sai Buri district of Pattani, 700 kilometres south of Bangkok.
The widow, who died instantly, visited her husband's grave often to recite the Koran, police said. Authorities blamed the slaying on separatists.
Since her husband's death, Joh had been employed by a government programme that provides assistance to families affected by violence.
The four southernmost provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani, Satun and Yala are the only majority Muslim provinces in predominantly Buddhist Thailand.
The region has seen escalating violence since January 2004 that has claimed more than 5,200 lives.
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