A 49-year-old village defence volunteer was killed by a bomb at his rubber plantation in the Mayo district of Pattani yesterday.
Pattani police were alerted to the explosion at the rubber plantation in Ban Namsai of tambon Lubo Yirai at 9am.
Bomb disposal police who examined the scene found the badly mutilated body of Lateh Dolo in the plantation.
A blast crater 1 metre wide and 70 centimetres deep was found. Steel pieces, believed to be shrapnel, were also found.
According to a police probe, the blast was caused by an explosive device stuffed in a gas cylinder, weighing at least 15 kilogrammes, buried in the plantation.
The victim tended his plantation gardens after work, police said. The blast took place while he was cultivating watermelon plants there, police added.
Local security officials have attributed the decline in violence in the far South to the deaths of many core insurgent members in clashes with the authorities. Some key insurgents were also arrested.
Local security sources said the deaths had prompted the insurgent groups to train a new group of rebel fighters.
The drop in violence is also due to heavy rain and flooding in areas of the far South, police said.