4 school guards shot dead by gunmen in southern Thailand

Four security guards were killed by unknown gunmen at a school in southern Thailand on Thursday, police said.

Three of the defense volunteers, who were standing on guard at Ban Buko school in Yarang district of Pattani province, were fatally shot at point blank range while the other one was pronounced dead at hospital.

A group of gunmen in camouflage gears approached the security guards and engaged in a conversation minutes before they opened fire at them, the police said.

The assailants fled with four HK-33 rifles of the slain guards aged between 24 and 43.

No school children or teachers were reportedly harmed by the gunmen who fled the scene in a pickup truck.

The school was immediately closed with all students and teachers being told to go home, following the mid-morning attack.

Pattani is one of four southernmost provinces of Thailand which have been riddled with ambushes and bombings over the past several years. The three other provinces are Yala, Narathiwat and Songkhla.

Authorities suspected that separatists including those of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional group, or National Revolutionary Front, launched the deadly attack.