Police Lt. Heraman Jehdee says the attack happened Monday afternoon soon after the vehicles with 38 soldiers left a camp in Bo-ngo sub-district in Narathiwat province. He says police found a gas canister at the scene used to plant the mobile phone-triggered explosive device.

More than 4,000 people have been killed in Thailand's three southern provinces since an Islamist insurgency flared in 2004. The provinces are the only Muslim-majority areas in the predominantly Buddhist country, and Muslims have long complained of discrimination by the central government.
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