Bomb kills two, wounds 18 in Thai Muslim south

YALA, Thailand, Dec 5 (Reuters) A bomb hidden in bags of vegetables today killed two men and wounded 18 others at a market in Thailand's restive Muslim south, police said.

The bomb exploded in a row of food stalls popular among Buddhist Thais living in the town of Yala in one of three southernmost provinces where a separatist insurgency has killed more than 1,800 people since 2004.

Police said six people were wounded seriously. Two civilians died later in hospital.

They said video from a closed-circuit camera showed four youths had hid the bomb next to a food stall before fleeing the scene on motorcycles.

Insurgents staging attacks have never claimed responsibility for any violence or declared their goals.

Thailand's military-appointed government has embarked on a peace drive in the predominately Muslim and Malay-speaking region which was an independent sultanate until the Buddhist-dominated Bangkok government annexed it a century ago.

But the almost daily bomb and gun attacks on government offices and ambushes of state officials and civilians has continued.

REUTERS SHB BD1228