At a press briefing yesterday, Police Region 9 commander Lt-General Adul Saengsingkoew said police had detained Arifan Haji-thahe, 21, a Yala Rajabhat College student.

He was being held in connection with the mid-June bombings that jolted the entire security apparatus. Adul said Arifan allegedly purchased at least 30 clocks that were used as timers in the explosions, many of which detonated within a half-hour period at government offices across the three southernmost provinces.

In continuing violence, Suding Wamaedeesa, 55, the chief of a village at Tambon Kayuborkoh in Yala's Raman district, was shot dead early yesterday.

Police Lieutenant Chathichai Noothongdaeng, deputy superintendent of Tambon Thathong police station, said evidence had been allegedly tampered with. Blood on the roadside where Suding was shot had been covered with sand after his relatives had taken his corpse from the scene to their home, he said.

At Narathiwat's Tambon Chanae, Roya Buyu, 55, was shot dead at close range with a shotgun while riding his motorbike to work at a rubber plantation.

Samae Samae, 58, was shot dead as he walked near his home at Tambon Palukasamoh in Narathiwat's Bacho district late on Friday. Police said his body was riddled with shots.

Meanwhile, at Narathiwat's Narathat Beach, two Muslim-owned restaurants were set on fire at about 3am yesterday. Authorities refused to enter the scene fearing the arson was an ambush.

The restaurants were owned by Sarina Binwani, 52, and Laeha Mamu, 27, both residents of Muang district.

Police believed the attacks were part of the ongoing insurgency in the region, where ethnic Malay militants have killed fellow-Muslims suspected of cooperating with the state.