Bomb kills soldier in Thai south

PATTANI, Thailand (Reuters) - A soldier was killed by a bomb and a Muslim civilian was shot dead in the latest violence in Thailand's restive south, police said Thursday.

The bomb was detonated as troops travelled in a pickup on a patrol in the town of Yarang in Pattani province. Five soldiers were wounded.

In a separate incident, police found the body of a Muslim man in a pickup in the same district. Police told Reuters he had been shot by insurgents, probably late Wednesday.

Tuesday, in the neighbouring province of Yala, three soldiers were wounded by a roadside bomb.

A brutal insurgency has claimed nearly 3,500 lives since 2004 in the three mainly Muslim provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat bordering Malaysia.

No credible group has claimed responsibility for the gun and bomb attacks in the rubber-producing provinces, which were part of an independent Malay Muslim sultanate before they were annexed by Buddhist Thailand a century ago.

(Reporting by Surapan Boonthanom; Writing by Kittipong Soonprasert; Editing by Alan Raybould and Sanjeev Miglani)