LEAD: Bomb kills at least 8 soldiers in southern Thailand

(EDS: UPDATING WITH REMARKS BY ARMY SPOKESMAN)

At least eight soldiers were killed and seven others seriously injured in a bomb attack by suspected Muslim insurgents in Narathiwat Province on Monday morning, police said.

The group of 15 soldiers was attacked when they were patrolling along a road in the province's Janae district. The bomb was detonated by a remote control when the vehicle passed by, police said.

Army spokesman Col. Acra Tiproch confirmed the death toll and said an exchange of gunfire took place for about 20 minutes following the explosion.

More than 3,000 people have been killed in separatist violence in Buddhist-dominated Thailand's mainly Muslim southern provinces of Narithiwat, Pattani and Yala since early 2004.

On Sunday, the wife of a security volunteer was shot dead in Pattani while public telephone boxes in Yala were damaged in an arson attack.