Hundreds of schools close in southern Thailand after teachers killed
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-12-23 15:20

More than half of all schools in one of southern Thailand's most strife-torn provinces have been closed following the murder of two teachers by suspected Islamic militants, education officials said.

About 60 percent of Pattani province's 400 state schools have been closed indefinitely, said Pairat Vihakarat, president of a teacher's federation covering three provinces near the Malaysian border which have been the centre of a separatist insurgency this year.

"Teachers fear for their safety and agreed that they want to temporarily stop teaching," Pairat said.

Muslim women stand next to a military vehicle outside a school in Pattani province southern Thailand. More than half of all schools in one of southern Thailand's most strife-torn provinces have been closed following the murder of two teachers by suspected Islamic militants. [AFP/file]

Two teachers were gunned down by suspected separatists Tuesday while travelling home from different schools in the province.

Their deaths, along with those of a village official on the same day and a policeman, mark the latest violence in an Islamic separatist insurgency which has claimed more than 560 lives this year.

Pairat said more schools in Pattani were likely to close and teachers from nearby Narathiwat and Yala provinces were considering similar action, which could see thousands of schools close.

Only government-run schools had been closed, while all private and religious schools would continue to operate, he said.

State-school teachers in the region have demanded bullet-proof vests and greater police and military protection.

The insurgency has seen almost daily attacks on police, troops, government officials and teachers at state schools. Buddhist monks and villagers have also been killed.

The insurgency has rumbled for decades in the south, parts of which were an independent kingdom before being annexed by Thailand in 1902.

It sparked back to life January 4 with a raid on a Narathiwat military base that saw attackers kill four soldiers and steal hundreds of rifles.

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