An army major was killed by a bomb planted at his home in Muang district (provincial seat) of Thailand's violence-plagued southern border province Yala Monday morning.

The blast occurred at about 7:00 a.m. (0000 GMT) Monday, and the victim, identified as Maj Prasarn Nakthung, was killed at the scene, police sources told Xinhua.

Police believed the bomb had been originally set to be detonated on Sunday night, when a string of coordinated bombing and arson attacks hit the four southernmost provinces, Songkhla, Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani, killing at least three persons and injuring more than 30 others.

Earlier at midnight, a hotel in Yala was also hit by a bomb, police said. No casualties were reported in the blast.

Thailand's Interior Minister Aree Wongaraya said Monday that the Sunday night bombings were conducted by only a small fraction of southern insurgents, and that the latest blast would not affect the plan to hold peace talk mediated by neighbor country Malaysia between the Thai government and the insurgents in the ethnic Muslim-majority southern border region.

Source: Xinhua