Thai provincial deputy governor, colleague killed in blast

A provincial deputy governor in Thailand and his colleague were today killed when a roadside bomb ripped through their vehicle in the country's southern Yala province, police said.

Yala Deputy Governor Isra Thongthawat succumbed to his injuries in the bomb blast that took place in Bannang Sata district in the troubled province, wracked by Muslim insurgency.

A disaster official travelling in the car with him was also killed while a third person was injured.

A group of suspected militants detonated the road bomb as the deputy governor's motorcade passed this morning in the district, police said.

More than 5,000 people have been killed in Thailand's three southernmost Muslim-majority provinces since insurgency erupted in 2004.