Four soldiers were killed and another four seriously injured while attempting to defuse a bomb at an army base in Thailand's unrest-plagued south on Monday, police said. The blast happened after troops moved the device, which was hidden in a gas tank and placed under a bridge, to a base in Narathiwat, one of several provinces in southern Thailand where a bloody nine-year insurgency has claimed thousands of lives. "They were inspecting and defusing the civilian-made bomb" when it exploded, said local police lieutenant colonel Sanit Suwanno.

Two soldiers were killed and six security officers wounded as insurgents mounted dozens of coordinated bombing, shooting and arson attacks in Thailand's deep south, police said Thursday. Government offices, mobile phone masts and convenience stores were among the targets of 32 attacks on Wednesday evening across eight districts of Pattani province in the restive region near the Malaysian border. Police said the casualties were all from a single ambush, with a car bomb aimed at security personnel responding to a shooting.

Thailand held its first formal peace talks with a rebel group from its insurgency-racked south Thursday as a bombing killed three people in a stark reminder of the difficulties negotiators face. The one-day meeting with representatives of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) insurgent group in Malaysia's capital was held in a frank but cordial atmosphere, Thai National Security Council chief Paradorn Pattanatabut said.

Thailand held its first formal peace talks with a rebel group from its insurgency-wracked south on Thursday, as a bombing killed three people in a stark reminder of the difficulties negotiators face. The talks with representatives from the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) insurgent group, expected to last one day, will focus on reducing bloodshed, Thai National Security Council chief Paradorn Pattanatabut said, warning the overall peace process would take time.