Suspected Muslim insurgents shot and beheaded a local official in southern Thailand on Wednesday in an attack believed to be part of ongoing sectarian violence in the area, police said. Surin Somchit, an employee of the community water authority, was shot and wounded by four shots near his office in Narathiwat province's Rangae district, police Capt. Songphol Juimanee said. The attackers, whose number was not yet known, then cut off their victim's head with a machete and dumped it by the roadside, he was quoted as saying by The Associated Press.
