The blasts rocked the center of the town of Yala at about midday on Saturday. Yala Governor Dethrat Simsiri said there had been three explosions within a 100-meter (110-yard) radius in the commercial district over a period of 10 minutes.

Two of the bombs were believed to have been hidden in motorcycles, while the other was in a car.

Several shops and houses near the scene were ablaze after the powerful explosion, which also damaged cars and motorcycles.

A policeman was also reported to have been wounded in a separate motorcycle bomb attack in Mae Lan district of neighboring Pattani province.

Such bombings have been cited as a tactic of Islamist separatists conducting an insurgency in Thailan's southernmost provinces.

The region is formerly an independent Malay Muslim sultanate which was annexed by Thailand in 1909. There have been daily bombings and shootings ever since the decades-old insurgency resurfaced in 2004.

In a separate incident, an explosion caused a fire at a hotel in the Hat Yai district in Song Kha province . Officials say five people have died and dozens injured.

It remains unclear whether the explosion was caused by a bomb or a gas leak.

rc/nk (AFP, AP, Reuters, dpa)