Five people were killed and at least 40 others were injured in a blast Thursday evening in Thailand's restive deep South, said the police.

The blast occurred at around 7:00 PM (12:00 GMT) at the Marina Hotel in Narathiwat's Sungai Kolok town, a major trading town which borders Malaysia to the south.

The bomb was planted in a pick-up truck parked in front of the hotel, killing five people and wounding at least 40 others, said local police.

All the dead are male and they appeared to be Asian, they added.

The incident occurred just two hours after Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra left the southern region, where more than 600 people have been killed in spiraling violence since January last year.

On Thursday morning, a villager was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Narathiwat's Ruesor district as Thaksin paid his first visit to the region after his landslide victory in the election.

Revived separatists movement seeking for an independent ethnic Malay Muslim state was blamed for the unabated violence in the deep South, which is home to most of Thailand's Muslim population.

(Xinhua News Agency February 18, 2005)