Two Hostages in Thailand Beheaded, Muslim Gang Suspected by Phairath Khampha 30 June 2001 Police in a southern Thai town hunted for suspected Muslim bandits who beheaded two hostages on June 4, 2001. Two heads in a plastic bag were found that day in Muang district of the Muslim dominated Yala province, 1,080km south of Bangkok, said a police official who spoke on customary condition of anonymity. Police identified the dead men as two villagers from the neighbouring province of Pattanee who had been kidnapped two weeks before. Their bodies were yet to be found, said the official. The hostage-takers had demanded a huge amount of money as ransom from the dead men's families, he said without elaborating. He said the kidnappers were suspected to belong to one of several Muslim criminal groups operating in the area. He said the families might have failed to pay the ransom. Kidnapping of wealthy villagers for ransom is not uncommon in southern Thailand, but this was the first time that the victims had been beheaded, the official said. But then again, people in that part of the world are not yet completely civilized.