An assistant district chief and three soldiers were killed in a bomb explosion in Pattani's Khok Pho district on Saturday night while on their way to inspect a polling unit, Election Commission secretary-general Puchong Nutrawong said on Sunday.
Mr Puchong said Jaktra Promkaew, an assistant chief of Khok Pho district, was also the head of polling unit 4 in Pattani's Constituency 2.
Prapas Chainapong, director of the Pattani election committee, said he believed the bombing had nothing to do with the election since it took place during a clash between militants and a village defence team.
He said Jaktra and the three soldiers had detoured from their journey to the polling unit to investigate the clash. On the way back to their vehicle, a bomb which was buried nearby went off, killing all four.
Mr Jaktra was on peace-keeping duty in his capacity as a polling unit chief at the time of his death so is entitled to assistance from an EC fund for polling officials killed in the line of duty.