An IED explosion ripped through an army camp in restive southern Thailand.

The blast damaged the fence and roof of a barracks at the To Deng Subdistrict Protection Unit base in Narathiwat province on October 15.

The improvised explosive - a 44lb fuel cylinder planted along the wall of the building - reportedly tore through a 33ft radius.

Three rooms were and the belongings of several volunteers were damaged.

Authorities said they have collected scraps of the IED in the dense grass opposite the base.

The attack was allegedly carried out to create chaos a week before the expiration of the statute of limitations on the Tak Bai massacre in Thailand's deep south.

The brutal incident occurred on October 25, 2004, when Muslim citizens were protesting the detention of six Muslim men accused of providing firearms to insurgents.

Thai security forces detained more than 1,300 demonstrators, and the military stacked them on top of each other in trucks, leading to the suffocation and death of 78 detainees during transport.

The incident deepened the conflict between the central Thai government and the Muslim-majority southern provinces, fueling ongoing insurgency in the region.

Islamic separatist terror attacks target the three southernmost provinces of Thailand - Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat - next to the border with Mulsim neighbors Malaysia. Thai state employees and infrastructure are often hit while attacks on civilians are rare.

Officials believe the conflict dates to a deal in 1909 that the British Empire struck to incorporate the Muslim region into the Siamese mainland.

The region's culture is more similar to Malaysia and dramatically different to Buddhist Thais causing decades of tension that lead to the emergence of separatist groups fighting for independence in the 1960s.

The struggle has continued ever since with more than 7,344 people killed and 13,641 injured between January 2004 and March 2022.

The British Foreign & Commonwealth Office warns against all but essential travel to the region while Canada's government warns its nationals to 'avoid all travel' to the three provinces.