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Early reports suggest the blasts happened inside a large department store. Others have suggested the incident was sparked by a car bomb parked outside the shop. Images have emerged of dozens nursing bloody head wounds outside the store which is completely destroyed. At least 20 people have been injured at the Big-C supermarket, a military spokesman said.

NC A bomb blast has injured multiple people in Pattani, Thailand

Pramote Prom-in, a spokesman for the Thai military in the area, said a suspected car bomb had exploded at the entrance of the Big-C supermarket in Pattani. He said: "The explosion wounded about 20 people." No deaths had been reported, he said. The attack is believed to be another act of violence by by Muslim separatists in the south of the predominantly Buddhist country. A decades-old separatist insurgency in the largely ethnic Malay Muslim provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat has killed more than 6,500 people since 2004, according to independent monitoring group Deep South Watch.

Bomb blast rips through popular British holiday resort Tue, May 9, 2017 A shopping centre in Thailand has seen to explosions – authorities are reporting on inside the supermarket, and another outside. A pick-up truck is believed to be involved Play slideshow Twitter/K5_Rescue 1 of 7 Devastation at the scene of the blast

GETTY Twin blasts in Thailand have injured visitors to a department store

Twitter/K5_Rescue Paramedics have been called to the scene where many people are injured

Thailand's south, close to the border with Malaysia, has seen high levels of violence in recent years. In November 2016 a 7-11 convenience store was destroyed in a bombing. The assaults began late on November 2 and rippled out over a wide area in the following hours with shootings, arson and bombings as well as the unfurling of banners decrying Thailand.

Twitter/K5_Rescue A bomb has injured shoppers in the popular Pattani town in Thailand

Twitter/K5_Rescue Smoking building in Pattani, Thailand, after a car bomb in Thailand

The attacks coincided with a visit by the new minister for the Muslim-majority region. Three people were shot dead.

Twitter/K5_Rescue Military sources have claimed around 20 people were injured by a car bomb in Thailand