Blenkinsop, 42, originally from Perth but based in Bangkok since the late 80s, was on assignment in the strife-torn south for Time magazine. He and British journalist Andrew Marshall had attended the scene of yet another brutal murder at about 7.30am yesterday a few kilometers outside the town of Yala. They were with a group of about a dozen newsmen, troops and emergency workers.

"Some man had been shot in the head and they had set him on fire," Blenkinsop said after being released from hospital. "We thought it was a bit weird. I was saying to Andrew it was very strange to drive the body 200 metres up the road. Why move it? But obviously they knew they had a bomb there.

"We were about four metres away [from the body], then everything went white and I thought 'this is it'. It blew me off my feet. "Thank God there were no nails in it, or shrapnel [packed into the bomb]. Other people were closer but I got the worst of it. It's Sod's law.

"It was triggered manually … I'm just bloody lucky! "I've got bits of the road in my face - little bits of gravel in my face and neck. They've been cleaning me up at the hospital - it stings - and I've got a headache. "I've been picking bits out of my face. But in a couple of days I should be back to my usual handsome self."

The Australian was one of about 10 rushed to the local hospital after the blast, but all had minor injuries and were released shortly after. "The Yala governor came round and gave me a big gift pack with about 500 cans of condensed milk in it, plus Bt10,000 (A$390). They give it to everyone who gets injured.

The Time duo were on the last of 10 days in the Muslim-majority South, which has seen more than 2200 people killed since civil unrest flared in January 2004. Blenkinsop described the carnage in the region as "pretty grim".

"It's like chasing ghosts in the dark. A lot of the time you're racing from A to B. And for the last three to four days there have been shootings every day - executions from point blank range. I'm not sure if this fellow [killed] today was Buddhist or Muslim, but I'd suggest it was done by someone in that area," he said.

His colleague Marshall said: "Phil was the worst of the 12 taken to hospital - everyone else had one or two bits in them. He's got a pounding headache. "I think the bomb was only a few kilograms and it had no shrapnel in it - it was meant to scare us. It happens a lot down here.

"We've tried to get closer to these killings and what the people are going through. Everybody is completely on edge. The man today was shot and his body burnt. But his co-workers who were just a short distance away saw nothing.

"The Buddhists are terrified, and the Muslims too. It's very very sad. It's got to the stage where it's not enough to just shoot them in the head - they've got to burn them also. The level of calculated brutality has just been ramped up, with beheadings and this sort of thing."

Marshall believes there is "only a small number" of militants carrying out the daily atrocities in an area "about half the size of Israel" adjacent to the Malaysian border. But the insurgents' ability to commit ugly crimes then blend back into villages has hampered official efforts to contain the violence. Fear of revenge attacks - that people who give information or assistance to the police or Army will be killed - has also hindered the authorities identifying and arresting the militants.

Blenkinsop started his career on the Sunday Times in Perth, before working for The Australian in Sydney, then shifting to Bangkok in 1989. His desire to get close to the action in conflict zones in Cambodia, East Timor, Borneo, on the Thai-Burma border and restricted areas in northern Laos have earned him a formidable reputation, as well as numerous awards.

He has twice won the prestigious Visa D'Or at the Perpignan festival in France - for classic black-and-white shots of Hmong "rebels" in Laos, and the carnage caused by the tsunami in southern Thailand and Aceh.

The Australian said he had spoken to his French wife, Agnes, and parents in Perth to assure them he was ok. He is due to fly back to Bangkok on Tuesday evening.

by Jim Pollard

The Nation