A truck bomb in an underground carpark that wounded seven people on the Thai holiday island of Koh Samui on Friday night, is likely to raise fears that Muslim rebels in the deep south could extend their campaign to tourist areas.

All of the wounded, who included a 12-year-old Thai-Italian girl, were later discharged from hospital with minor injuries, a hospital official said yesterday. The bomb exploded late on Friday, the eve of the new year holidays in predominantly Buddhist Thailand. Banpot Phunpian, spokesman for the Internal Security Operations Command said it was possible that insurgents from the south, experienced in assembling car bombs, were behind the blast.