Eight soldiers killed in ambush

Suspected Muslim insurgents ambushed an army patrol in the restive south, killing all eight soldiers in the group, beheading one.

An army spokesman said the attack was a reaction to what he called the military’s progress in tracking down rebel leaders. But it was the second blow for the government in two days, coming after six suspected militants escaped from jail. Later, a bomb exploded at a market, injuring at least 27.

More than 2,800 people have been killed in the last four years in Thailand’s southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, and some parts of neighboring Songkhla.