ngry Muslim villagers hold two soldiers hostage after shooting in southern Thailand

(AP) BANGKOK, Thailand - Hundreds of angry Muslim villagers in southern Thailand held two soldiers hostage on Wednesday after accusing a group of unidentified gunmen of wounding five people in a tea shop, a provincial governor said.

The villagers, saying the gunmen were soldiers armed with assault rifles, refused to negotiate with authorities and locked the two hostages in a school, according to the governor of Narathiwat province Pracha Terat. The incident occurred Tuesday evening in the village of Tanyolimo.

The governor, Pracha Terat, said the situation was tense, with the villagers asking foreign reporters to come and report on the situation since they didn’t trust the local Thai media. More than 100 security personnel were rushed to the scene while some 500 villagers sealed the route into the area, Pracha said.

After the shooting, villagers rounded up an army patrol, seizing two of the soldiers while six others escaped. The hands of the two were tied and they were locked up in a village school.

Two years ago, when the violence erupted in southern Thailand, villagers in the province seized three border patrol policemen and beat them to death