Southern Thai violence leaves villager killed, schools torched, soldiers wounded


Bangkok, January 12, 2007 : Two schools were burned down Thursday night in southern Thailand by suspected Muslim insurgents, said police, who also blamed them for the shooting death earlier in the day of a villager and a bombing that wounded eight soldiers.

The attacks came on the third anniversary of a raid on an army weapons depot that marked the beginning of a sharp rise in Islamic separatist violence in the Muslim-dominated provinces of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani, all in the far south of overwhelmingly Buddhist Thailand.

In the Jan. 4, 2004 raid in Narathiwat, dozens of unidentified armed men raided a military camp, killed four soldiers, and stole about 400 assault rifles.

No one was brought to justice for the raid, after which violence in the area escalated sharply, with almost daily shootings and small bombings. Almost 2,000 people, mostly civilians, have since been killed.

Authorities blame the insurgency on Islamic separatists who take advantage of long-standing resentment among southern Muslims, who feel they are treated as second-class citizens.

A police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to release information, said the insurgents were suspected of carrying out arson Thursday night on a kindergarten in Pattani's Kapho district and a public school in Narathiwat's Sungai Padi district.

Earlier in Narathiwat, a 19-year-old Buddhist villager was killed and his companion injured when shot by a motorcycle gunman in Rue So district, said another officer who also insisted on not being named for the same reason.

In Yala, eight soldiers were wounded when a bomb on the roadside exploded as the six-wheeled military truck in which they were riding passed by, said police Lt. Weerakit Kaewnuanching.

Both incidents were also blamed on the insurgents.