Pattani, Thailand - Suspected separatists shot dead and then decapitated the manager of a shrimp farm in the majority-Muslim deep South, where almost 3,000 people have died in escalating violence since early 2004, officials confirmed Thursday.

Suphawit Mitjan, 26, was ambushed Wednesday night while driving to a shrimp farm in Nong Chik, Pattani, 730 kilometres south of Bangkok.

The Thai-Buddhist victim was first shot with a M-16 rifle and then decapitated with an axe, said Colonel Akkara Thiproj, spokesman for the southern region command.

Suphawit was the 37th decapitation recorded in the deep South, comprising Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala provinces - since the region's long simmering separatist struggle took a turn for the worse over the past four years, said Akkara.

When authorities went to inspect the scene of Suphawit's death Thursday morning they triggered an explosion that injured two volunteer militiamen, he added.

Meanwhile, a bomb was detonated Thursday morning in Yala city, killing one soldier, and another explosion in Than-To district, Yala province, injured one soldier.

The spate of fresh violence marked the end of the traditional Thai New Year which was celebrated with a national holiday Saturday through Wednesday.

Thailand's three southernmost provinces, bordering Malaysia, comprised the independent Islamic sultanate of Pattani more than 200 years ago before it fell under Bangkok's rule.

More than 80 per cent of the three provinces' 2 million people are Muslims, making the region an anomaly in predominantly Buddhist Thailand.

A separatist struggle has flared on and off in the area for decades, but took a turn for the worse in January, 2004, when Muslim militants, inspired by rising Muslim militancy abroad, attacked an army depot and stole 300 war weapons, prompting a crackdown that further inflamed the local population against the government. (dpa)