"The bullets sprayed like rain," Viriya said, recalling the attack

on her convoy as it moved along a road in Yala's Krong Pinang district.

Viriya threw herself on her vehicle's floor after the first burst of gunfire hit the convoy. Just seconds later, bullets ripped through the seat where she had been sitting.

"I was just seconds from death," Viriya said. She escaped with a cut on her eyebrow.

Viriya, the head of a foundation responsible for boosting morale among soldiers, was returning to Muang district when about 20 suspected militants opened fire on her security convoy.

Prior to the attack one officer had explained to her that the road was bumpy as a result of roadside bombings, then another informed her that the militants had shifted from roadside bombings to ambushing conveys, she said.

As they were discussing ambushes the bullets hit the convoy, she said.

"Officers in the vehicle ordered everybody to get on the floor," she recalled. "I crouched on the floor of the car and just seconds after bullets pierced the seat I had been in," she said.

"If I had stayed in my seat I would surely have been killed."

Viriya said she ordered the driver not to stop the vehicle because this would have resulted in a battle.

Later, the results of the initial inspection indicated that the militants had been aiming for the tyres as areas near the wheels were riddled with bullets.

 Viriya said she had never imagined such an incident would happen to her.

She and her staff have been visiting Yala once a month and everyone there is well aware that her work is peaceful, she added.

"I am saddened by what happened. However, I am not angry and forgive those involved in the attack," she said. "They should have understood that we come to help. I would like to ask that they don't do this again."

Despite her brush with death, Viriya vowed to continue working for people in the South.

Separatist-related violence has claimed more than 2,000 lives in the region since 2004.