7 soldiers killed in roadside bomb attack in southern Thailand

Seven soldiers have been killed in a roadside bomb attack in Thailand's insurgency-plagued south.

Police. Col. Metha Singhasena said a group of suspected insurgents detonated the bomb on a rural road in Krong Pinang district in Yala province as a military truck passed by.

He said 10 soldiers were on the multi-purpose truck after finishing a patrol early Saturday.

Metha said the improvised bomb hidden under the road surface destroyed the truck and killed seven soldiers. Two officers were wounded and one was missing, while a villager was injured in the attack.

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

Attacks occur regularly despite government efforts to engage in talks with the militants.

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