BANGKOK, June 11 (Reuters) - Three people, including a pregnant woman, were killed in shootings by suspected separatist insurgents in Thailand's restive deep south, police said on Thursday.
The attacks came amid an escalation of violence in the predominantly Muslim region, where 23 people have been killed and more than 40 wounded over the past six days.
A Buddhist man and his four-months pregnant wife were shot dead and an elderly woman wounded in the Chanae district of Narathiwat, one of three provinces near the Malaysian border where nearly 3,500 people have died in five years of unrest.
Police said their attackers were armed with assault rifles and pistols and opened fire as they rode past on motorcycles.
It was the second time in just over a week that a pregnant woman had been shot dead in the rubber-rich region, where more than 30,000 troops have been stationed since 2004 in an unsuccessful bid to quell the violence.
In the province's Rangae district, a Muslim man was killed when unknown gunmen opened fire from a passing pickup truck, police said.
Officials said rebels were trying to stoke hatred between Muslims and Buddhists after Monday's massacre at a Narathiwat mosque, where 10 Muslims were gunned down while they prayed.
Local people pointed the finger at the army for the brazen attack, which they said no Muslim was capable of carrying out.
The military has rejected the claims and blamed insurgents for seeking to escalate the conflict.
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Narathiwat police chief, Major General Surachai Suebsook, said an investigation into the bloody shooting was progressing, but no arrests had been made.
"We are processing evidence from the crime scene," he told Reuters by telephone.
"This is a sensitive issue. The forensic evidence will show that our investigation is transparent. No arrest warrant has been issued yet," he said.
Mystery surrounds who is behind the violence in Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala provinces, which were part of a Malay Muslim sultanate until annexed by Buddhist Thailand a century ago.
Southern Muslims have more in common with Malaysia than Thailand, and have resisted attempts to assimilate them by governments in faraway Bangkok. (Reporting by Kittipong Soonprasert; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Darren Schuettler and Sanjeev Miglani)
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