Suspected militants have killed two more people and burnt down several state schools as violence continues in the South.

Three schools were totally destroyed and a fourth partially damaged by simultaneous acts of arson just before midnight on Friday in Yala's Bannang Sata district, police and Sanya Suwanapho, chairman of the Federation of Teachers, said yesterday.

In Narathiwat, a Tambon Administration Organisation deputy president, Addul-kadir Awae-kaching, 41, was shot dead by a suspected militant armed with an assault rifle.

In the province's Sungai Padi district, Rohim Yusor, 40, was shot dead by a gunman as he worked at his fish-and-vegetable market stall.

Police said young villagers had blocked police from the scene, claiming the shooter was an official.

Additionally, a motorcycle gunman shot and injured Yala schoolteacher Charoon Chuchareondej and his wife. Both are in a serious condition in hospital.

The violence came just two days after Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont travelled to the region to apologise to Muslims for the death of at least 85 protesters at Tak Bai two years ago.

Surayud also regretted harsh measures imposed by the previous government, and promised to bring justice to the region.

The apology was generally well-received. However, in a statement released yesterday the Pattani United Liberation Organisation, or Pulo, welcomed the apology

but added it was "too little and too late".

Exiled Pulo vice president Abae Kamae said from Sweden "it took more than two years for the Thai state to sincerely utter such a word, letting the Pattani people and their homeland suffer mentally, physically and inhumanly".

The statement added that the delay was not only "irresponsible" but was one of the causes of the current situation becoming "beyond control".

The group will take a "wait and see" stance before assessing the "sincerity" of the Surayud apology, it said.

In a related development, Mahamadamin Salikhan, secretary-general of the kamnan and village chiefs of Narathiwat, said he had received positive signals from more than 130 alleged asylum-seeking Thai-Muslim villagers currently in northern Malaysia.

They fled their villages two years ago claiming fear of persecution by officials and security forces, and are being held at a Malaysian government facility.

The Nation

YALA