Thursday, December 23, 2004
Schools shut in Thai Muslim south after murders
BANGKOK: More than 300 schools were closed in Thailand’s restive Muslim south on Wednesday as teachers demanded better security a day after two Buddhist colleagues were shot dead by suspected militants.
“We cannot accept that two teachers were killed in a day,” Boonsom Thangsriprai, president of the Pattani Teachers Association, told Reuters after authorities agreed to close all primary schools in the province temporarily. Pattani is one of three southern provinces where more than 500 people have been killed in almost daily gun and bomb attacks since January. Despite the deployment of thousands of soldiers and police in the region, which borders Malaysia, state symbols such as schools and teachers have been targeted in arson attacks and drive-by shootings.
reuters
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