Three bomb attacks minutes apart killed 10 people and wounded more than 100 yesterday in the main town in Thailand’s insurgency-hit far south.

The blasts hit the centre of Yala town around midday as families were out shopping, in the most deadly attack in five years in the Muslim-majority south of mainly Buddhist Thailand.

Several houses near the blast sites were set on fire and many parked cars and motorcycles were damaged by the powerful explosions.

“There were three bombs that exploded, the first is a car bomb and the second and third bombs were hidden in motorcycles,” said Colonel Pramote Promin, spokesman for the southern army region. Bomb squad officers were seen inspecting the mangled car wreckage at the site of the car bomb as firefighters doused blazes nearby.

Rescue workers helped bloodied victims and searched for other wounded people as smoke filled the street. Ten people were in critical condition with severe burns, the public health ministry said.

A Yala city policeman added: “The bombs went off about 10 minutes apart.”

A nurse in the emergency unit of Yala provincial hospital told AFP nine dead and 112 wounded had been admitted, but police later said the death toll had risen to 10.

One policeman was wounded in a separate motorcycle bomb attack in Mae Lan district of neighbouring Pattani province, police said.