Thailand and Malaysia on Monday agreed to create a "smart card" in a joint effort to curb rising separatism in southern Thailand where more than 275 people have been killed this year, officials said today.

Thai Interior Minister Bhokin Bhalakula said the cards, which store personal information not found in passports, would help prevent known separatists from crossing the border to escape arrest.

"Smart cards will help us better monitor people who currently hold duel citizenship," said Bhokin, adding that Malaysia was still lobbying to have dual nationality phased out altogether.

Earlier this month Thailand and Malaysia also set out a joint plan to curb escalating violence in Thailand's Muslim majority south through shared development projects and the establishment of a special economic zone.

More killed

Monday's agreement came one day after two Chinese travelling salesmen were gunned down in Narathiwat, one of Thailand's worst hit southern provinces.

Police said the two men were shot in the legs while selling blankets to villagers by gunmen seeking to inflame further unrest.

Alleged separatists also torched a school in the same province on Sunday and a district official from neighbouring Yala province was arrested with dynamite and ammunition during a raid by security forces.

Thailand's south was plagued by separatist violence until the 1980s when the government managed to curb militant activity.

But violence flared again in January following an attack on an army base which left four soldiers dead and more than 400 weapons missing.

In April, Thai police and military killed 108 suspected Muslim rebels who launched attacks in three southern provinces in the bloodiest day of violence in recent Thai history.