BANGKOK, June 24 (Reuters) - Suspected militants killed two soldiers and two villagers in ambushes in Thailand's rebellious Muslim south on Sunday, police said. The soldiers were executed and their bodies burned by suspected Muslim snipers on a road in Narathiwat province after their motorcycle came under fire, police said. In nearby Pattani province, two elderly civilians riding on a motorcycle were attacked by pistol-toting gunmen. The two men were doused with benzene and set on fire, police said. The military had detained 130 Muslim militant suspects and sympathisers during a security sweep through Narathiwat and nearby Yala province since Wednesday, army spokesman Akara Thiproj told reporters on Sunday. Bomb attacks, shootouts have become almost daily events in the rebellious region where more than 2,300 people have been killed in a three-year insurgency. Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont reiterated on Saturday his government would stick to its policy of trying to defuse the situation in the south through peaceful dialogue with the militants. The region was a former Muslim sultanate annexed by Thailand about a century ago.
