Death toll from a string of bombing and arson attacks across Thailand's southernmost provinces through Sunday night till early Monday, stood at seven, while at least 50 others were injured, Thai security officials said Monday.

The latest string of attacks are in the biggest scale ever in the over-three-year-long insurgent violence in Thailand's southern border region.

Security sources told Xinhua that at least 29 bombings and arsons were launched in Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani and Songkhla provinces on Sunday night, killing six persons. A army official in Yala province who was killed Monday morning by a bomb believed to have been planted on Sunday at his house, added the death toll to seven.

The blasts targeted tourist and commercial sites such as hotels and karaoke bars. In Yala province alone, 17 bombs exploded, and another six went off in the province's Betong district.

Bombings at a power plant in Pattani province caused a blackout in the provincial seat. Several public schools and mosques were torched. Militants also shot at military, police forces and villagers.

The attacks were another festival nightmare, which came 50 days after a string of bombings hit the capital Bangkok and its suburb on New Year's Eve by western calendar, which killed three people and injured some 40 others, including foreigners. No culprits have been arrested yet.

The Internal Security Operation Command (ISOC), which is in charge of security in the deep south, sent helicopters to survey the areas around Yala's provincial seat. Special armed forces have also been dispatched to hunt down the culprits, the ISOC said.

Col Wichai Thongdaeng, a military spokesman, said the army has sent additional troops to the region, where nearly 2,000 people have died in the renewed violence since early 2004.

"We believe that the attacks were planned to cause division, create fear among the people. They want to show that they are still capable (of carrying out attacks)," he was quoted by Bangkok Post's website as saying.

Source: Xinhua