Bomb injures 27 lunchtime diners in South

Eleven people have been shot dead and a motorcycle wounded at least 27 others at a restaurant as violence intensified in the far south during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, police said on Thursday.

The spate of killings, all on Wednesday, meant it was one of the bloodiest for months in Thailand's insurgency-hit provinces bordering Malaysia, where a separatist rebellion has been raging for more than five years.

Gunmen shot dead a soldier as he rode his motorcycle in Narathiwat province on Wednesday night, while a deputy village chief was gunned down and killed in a tea shop in the same province hours later, police said.

A Muslim man was shot dead and his wife seriously injured as they returned from a religious school in Narathiwat, they said.

In neighbouring Pattani province, suspected insurgents killed a Muslim religious teacher and his 13-year-old son after following them through the provincial capital late Wednesday, police said.

Attackers earlier shot dead a Muslim candidate for the local administration as he returned from prayers at a mosque in Pattani, and in separate attacks gunmen killed three other Muslim men in the same province.

Attackers raided a house in Yala province and shot dead another Muslim man as he broke his fast for Ramadan on Wednesday evening, police said. Security forces also shot and killed a wanted Muslim militant in a clash in Yala.

Bomb squad units inspect the site of an explosion at a restaurant in Pattani province on Thursday. (AFP Photo)

A motorcycle bomb exploded on Thursday lunchtime outside a restaurant crowded with Buddhist customers in Pattani town, injuring at least 27 people, police said. Two people were seriously injured, they added.

On Aug 25, a powerful car bomb hit a restaurant frequented by government officials in Narathiwat, also at lunchtime, wounding at least 42 people.

Muslims fast during the day during Ramadan, so the attackers could be reasonably sure of not targetting Muslims.

A work gang superviser for the Highways Department was seriously injured on Thursday morning when he picked up a booby-trapped wallet left on the Pattani-Narathiwat highway in Sai Buri district of Pattani.

Police said Charan Rattanaruangsri, 25, was supervising workers cleaning the road shoulder. The wallet was attached to a string connected to a home-made bomb, which detonated.

The explosion made a big hole about 40cm in diameter on the road and seriously wounded Mr Charan. A nearby coconut tree was also brought down by the blast.

About 3,900 people have been killed and thousands more injured since the bloody insurgency erupted in early 2004, led by shadowy militants who have never publicly stated their goals.

The south has seen a recent upsurge in attacks, many of which involve shootings of Buddhists and Muslims alike. There have also been gruesome killings such as crucifixions and beheadings.

Thailand's four southern-most provinces made up an autonomous Malay Muslim sultanate until the region was annexed by predominantly Buddhist Thailand in 1902, sparking decades of tension.