Murder fuels South teacher security fears

Murder fuels South teacher security fears

Schools shut down after headmistress slaying

Executives from 40 schools in Pattani's Nong Chik district held an emergency meeting yesterday to work out a new security plan for teachers following the murder of a headmistress on Thursday.

Two gunmen opened fire with an M16 automatic rifle and a 9mm handgun at Nanthana Kaewchan, the 51-year-old headmistress of Ban Tha Kam Cham School, as she drove home in a car in Nong Chik on Thursday evening.

She was pronounced dead in hospital after succumbing to multiple wounds.

The killing has prompted all schools in the district to suspend classes.

Office of Pattani Education Region 1 director Nopporn Makkongkaew yesterday called an urgent meeting with all school executives in Nong Chik.

A new plan to protect teachers will be ironed out as many areas in the district are prone to violence, Mr Nopporn said.

"Security measures for teachers in Nong Chik must intensify," he said.

Mr Nopporn said Nanthana's murder had intensified fears among teachers in the area because war weapons were used in the attack and also because the victim was a woman.

Boonsom Thongsiprai, chairman of the Teachers' Federation of the Three Southern Border Provinces, yesterday called on authorities to promptly review security measures for teachers.

Special protection and response measures in violence-plagued areas must be in place, he said, and insisted authorities stand guard in those areas around the clock.

Region 4 Internal Security Operations Command spokesman Pramote Prom-in yesterday called on human rights bodies and other civic groups to condemn the killing.

In Yala's Raman district, a bomb disposal squad was called to defuse an explosive device hidden in a rubber plantation opposite Raman police station yesterday.

Police believe the bomb was intended to target them.

The police station also came under gunfire attack on Thursday evening, leaving one officer injured.

A combined force of military, police and administrative officers has been tracking the gunmen in the mountainous areas between Raman and Narathiwat's Rueso district, where key southern insurgent leaders Usaman Dengsamae and Salahudin Tojema and 10 accomplices are known to be active, authorities said.

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