BANGKOK - Thai Interior Minister Wan Muhamad Nor Matha is to visit Kuala Lumpur next week, officials said today, reportedly for talks over a series of bombing and arson attacks in the Muslim-majority south.

"He will make a one-day visit on Thursday Nov 7, mainly to hold talks with his Malaysian counterpart (Syed Hamid Albar)," an interior ministry official told AFP.

The official declined to say what would be on the agenda of the hastily arranged talks, but press reports said they would focus on exchanging information related to the violence in southern provinces bordering Malaysia.

Two bombs exploded Tuesday at a Buddhist temple and a hotel in the provincial capital of Pattani, causing minor damage, while five schools were set ablaze in neighbouring Songkhla province in pre-dawn attacks the same day.

One suspect has been arrested over the incidents, which Thai authorities have said were carried out by local gangsters and were not the work of international terrorists.

Thailand's five southern provinces have in recent years been plagued by Muslim separatist violence but most analysts now believe the remnants of the militant groups are incapable of carrying out major attacks.

Authorities have failed to make any arrests over an earlier spate of violence in the region where since December more than 20 policemen have been killed, trains bombed, government offices attacked and weapons depots raided.

Provincial leaders and Islamic authorities say the culprits are not Islamic separatists, but criminals fighting over the profits from illegal businesses including smuggling and prostitution. AFP