Violence recurs in southern Thailand

Thai soldiers protect a school in southern Thailand. (Source: aljareeza.com)

Hanoi (VNA) – Violence recurred in southern Thailand when gunmen attacked a primary school in Narathiwat province, killing one person and injuring two others, Thai police said on September 29.

The incident occurred when 10 insurgents rode motorbikes directing their guns at a group of security officers at the school.

Victims are members of civil defence force trained and armed by the government to support tens of thousands of soldiers in insecure provinces bordering Malaysia. They often escort teachers and pupils in the most dangerous areas in the southern region.

The attack happened just weeks after a four-year-old girl and her father died in a bomb blast at other school in the province.

In the neigbouring province of Pattani, an employee at a petrol station was killed and six others injured in an attack carried out by four gunmen on motorbikes.

According to statistics, more than 6,500 people, mainly civilians, died of violence in the past 10 years by rebel groups in the southern region, mostly in the provinces of Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat, and Songkhla.

In late 2014, the Thai government pledged to promote peace talks with rebel forces in the southern region via the mediator, Malaysia, but little progress has been recorded so far.-VNA