YALA, THAILAND - A BOMB in Thailand's insurgency-hit south has injured two soldiers and a Muslim villager has been shot dead, as the army warned on Wednesday of an escalation in separatist attacks.

Two privates assigned to protect teachers in the Muslim-majority southern province of Yala were seriously wounded in a roadside blast early Wednesday, provincial authorities said.

On Tuesday evening, a 41-year-old Muslim man was shot dead at his rubber plantation in Narathiwat province by four militants.

Army spokesman Colonel Acra Tiproch told AFP that they were on high alert after intelligence reports suggested militants may launch attacks in the three southernmost provinces between July 25 and July 28.

He said two large events being held later this month - a food festival and a dove singing competition - were possible targets.

'According to a series of rumours about possible attacks, it would be good for security officials to be well prepared,' Col Acra said.

More than 3,300 people have been killed since separatist unrest broke out in January 2004 in the south, which was an autonomous Malay sultanate until Thailand annexed it in 1902, provoking decades of tension. -- AFP