Investigating officials said the body of Asmandej Saleh, 21, had been riddled with bullets and left for dead on the side of the road in the southernmost district of Sungai Padi while 16-year-old Ayirerna Awae had survived the attack by an AK-47 machine-gun.

They were riding a motorcycle when attacked, police said.

Meanwhile in nearby Pattani, Governor Panu Uthairat issued a stern warning to officials in Yaring district, where a public school suffered an arson attack on Thursday, saying disciplinary action could be taken against them for negligence because the attack was the third of its kind recently.

Panu said several village defence volunteers in the area had been dismissed following the latest attack. The volunteers, who are paid Bt4,500 per month, were hired by the province in a bid to incorporate local residents as the eyes and ears of government officials.

Panu said he had authorised 2,000 additional closed-circuit cameras to be put in public places to curb the ongoing violence, which has claimed the lives of more than 1,200 people since January 2004.

Ahmed Somboon Bualuang, a respected academic, blasted the country's political parties for not giving due attention to the violence and expressed concern that more was ahead.

The Nation

NARATHIWAT