South insurgents kill yet another teacher
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After a long pause in the targeting of teachers by insurgents in the deep South, another was shot dead in Pattani on Thursday, becoming the 154th such victim and dealing another blow to teachers' morale.
Two other teachers were earlier wounded in the space of a week.
The death of Nanthana Kaewjan, 51, director of the Tha Kam Cham school in Nong Chik district, outraged teachers and their representative bodies over a lack of security, prompting them to confront security officials. Nanthana’s murder was the first to be committed using an automatic weapon, according to a senior education official, Nopphorn Markkhongkaew.
A meeting of teachers’ leaders from Pattani and two other strife-torn provinces was called for today to discuss security measures with security agencies and Fourth Army Area commander Lt-General Udomchai Thammasaro.
Bunsom Srithongphrai, the leader of an umbrella teachers’ group, called on teachers to use extra caution, citing information that insurgents plan to continue targeting teachers, especially Buddhists.
Two wounded earlier
Earlier in the week, two teachers from Ban Makham in Yarang district were wounded in gun attacks, while being escorted by soldiers.
Nanthana, 51, was shot dead by someone using an automatic rifle in broad daylight on Thursday, the first teacher gunned down in this way.
An urgent meeting of directors of 40 schools in Nong Chik was called last night, after Nanthana’s shooting in the evening.
Meanwhile, a motorcycle bomb attack in Narathiwat’s Muang district targeting a police pickup truck carrying a squad of officers left two of them wounded.
One of the injured, the driver, forced himself to keep driving to a nearby police box despite sustaining injuries to his head, before the team was helped to safety.
