A police officer was killed in a shootout with suspected insurgents at a Muslim boarding school in southern Thailand.

Police Senior Sergeant Major Somsak Naksen, 50, chief of a local Explosive Ordnance Disposal squad, was checking the premises for hidden explosives when he was shot in the head on Wednesday afternoon.

The officer, from Border Patrol Police Company 444, was rushed to Somdej Phra Yupparat Sai Buri Hospital but later died from the injury.

Police Colonel Theerapot Yindee, superintendent of Saiburi Police Station, said the incident occurred while police were sieging suspected terrorists hiding at the Pondok Institute.

He said: 'Following the incident, officials cordoned off the school and brought in religious and local leaders to persuade the suspects to surrender. However, they continued to fire at officials, resulting in a clash.'

He added that one insurgent, Muhammad Jaydosama, who was wanted for a gun attack in Yala province in 2020, was killed. Another man, Surhafisi Sumae, 29, was arrested and a pistol and ammunition were seized from him.

Officials said drone scans found no other suspects in the area.

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.