At least four people were killed in a shooting in southern Thailand on Saturday, police said, with local media reporting that officers were still searching for the suspect.

The attack started at about 5 pm (1100 GMT), in Khiri Rat Nikhom district in Surat Thani province – roughly 600 km south of the capital Bangkok.

"Four people died," local head of police Kriangkrai Kraikaew said, declining to give further details.

The shooting happened near the home of a former village head, local media reported.

Thailand has high rates of gun ownership and there has been a steady trickle of violent incidents in the past 12 months, including one of the deadliest attacks in recent history.

The kingdom was stunned in October after a former police sergeant murdered 36 people, 24 of them children, in the northeastern Nong Bua Lam Phu province.

And last month, three people were killed and another three wounded in a Phetchaburi province shooting, which ended only after a 15-hour stand-off. (AFP)