Malaysia has advised its citizens to avoid travelling to neighbouring southern Thailand after Thursday's car bomb that killed six people and wounded 44 in the region, Malaysian media said Saturday.

"We are certainly worried about the latest development there," Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency.

"Malaysians are advised not to go there except on urgent matters," he was quoted as saying by the Malay-language Utusan Malaysia .

Deadliest single incident

The bombing, in a pickup truck parked in a busy nightlife area, was the deadliest single incident in a campaign of violence that has gripped the Muslim-dominated deep south for the past 13 months and claimed about 600 lives.

A 55-year-old Malaysian was among the injured when the bomb was detonated by remote control Thursday night near a busy hotel in Sungai Kolok, a town on the Malaysian border.