Terrified students stay home from Narathiwat school
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Traumatised by insurgent violence, young students at a Narathiwat school that came under attack last week have still not returned to class, prompting it to close indefinitely.
School director Chaiwat Sumethaphiwat said yesterday that the teachers were also terrified, while the school’s closure was a source of concern for parents, causing hardship for everyone involved.
Four security guards were killed, a seven-year-old student sustained gunshot wounds and a four-year-old was injured in the stampede of students as they attempted to flee the attack. “It is now a serious problem of group trauma which may prompt all students to stop coming to school,” Chaiwat added.
Meanwhile, a bomb intended for an Army patrol in Pattani’s Muang district yesterday detonated too late, causing no casualties but damaging property.
The 10-kilogram home-made explosive planted in a cemetery 10 metres from the road went off after a jeep with five occupants passed by. The blast damaged about 15 nearby houses but caused no harm to any patrol members, who were all new conscripts.
In Yala, a foot patrol found a hole at a section of railway track in Muang district, likely dug in preparation to house a home-made bomb. A bomb-disposal team was called in to examine the hole and found nothing but rocks covering it, causing a two-hour delay in train service, which resumed at around 9am.
