By Riyaz ul Khaliq

(AA) : At least 15 people were shot dead and four injured in an overnight assault when unknown gunmen launched a scathing armed attack on security deployment in southern Thailand, local media reported on Wednesday.

The incident took place in Muang district of an insurgency-hit Muslim-majority Yala province.

According to daily Bangkok Post, some 10 unknown gunmen attacked defense volunteer booth in Moo 5 village about 11.20 p.m. local time (1820GMT).

The report said that eleven of the volunteers and officials were shot dead on the spot while four others succumbed to their wounds later at the local health facility.

Three officials were under treatment while two defense volunteers escaped the attack.

The assailants took away the arms of the slain Thai forces.

Tuesday’s violence comes months after the death of a Muslim man, Abdulloh Esormusor, who was left in a coma after being interrogated at a notorious Thai detention centre.

Suspects are routinely taken for interrogation and held under emergency laws in detention centres where rights groups have documented torture.

Days after Abdulloh’s detention, four people were killed in a late-night attack on a military outpost, fuelling speculation of a retaliatory operation.

A week later several small bombs exploded in Bangkok, injuring four people as the city hosted a major summit attended by top diplomats, including US secretary of state Mike Pompeo.

To thwart any expected help to the security post, attackers brought down an electricity pole and cut down a tree to block the road while it set tyres on fire, the report said.

The population of the provinces, which belonged to an independent Malay Muslim sultanate before Thailand annexed them in 1909, is 80 percent Muslim, while the rest of the country is overwhelmingly Buddhist.

The government imposed martial law in three Muslim-majority provinces in southern Thailand — Pattani, Narathiwat, Yala — following deadly violences in 2004.

Since then, almost 13,000 residents have been arrested by the military, according to the Prey Network of Emergency Law (JASAD), a group advocating for victims of soldier violence in Pattani.

Additional report by The Muslim News

[Archive Photo: Muslim villagers in Pattani, In April 2014. Photographer: Marcus Brogden/AA]