BANGKOK, Aug 21 (Reuters) - A car bomb exploded on Thursday in a town in southern Thailand that has been a target of insurgent attacks, killing a journalist and wounding 30 government officials and shoppers, security officials said.

The explosion came minutes after a bomb hidden in a motorcycle was remotely detonated near a busy restaurant and the police station in Sungai Kolok, police Major General Pongsak Nakwijit said. The first explosion caused no casualties.

More than 3,000 people have been killed in four years of separatist attacks in the largely Malay-speaking region. Sungai Kolok is a Muslim town popular with Malaysian visitors.

Since the latest violence erupted in 2004, the rebels have never revealed themselves publicly or claimed responsibility for the near daily gun and bomb attacks in the rubber-producing region bordering Malaysia.

"The second bomb came as security forces and journalists were rushing to the scene and killed a journalist," Pongsak told Channel 3 television.

"The blast killed him," Pongsak said, identifying the victim as Chalee Boonsawat, who worked for a Bangkok newspaper and a television station. He briefly worked for Reuters.

Another senior security official told Channel 3 that three of the 30 wounded people were in serious condition.

Sungai Kolok, with dozens of bars and hundreds of rooms catering mainly to Malaysian tourists, has been a target of past insurgent attacks. (Reporting by Nopporn Wong-Anan; Editing by Darren Schuettler and Giles Elgood)

AlertNet news is provided by