Isma-ae Kuteh, a teacher at a local tadeka, an weekend school for Muslim children, was released on bail after some 200 villagers blocked a main road in Yarang district.

Stand-off between local Malay villagers and security forces has been a regular occurrence amid as violence continued unabated in the restive region where a new generation of securetive insurgents steps up their attacks against government and civilian positions.

Local villagers often don't trust the state agencies and the security apparatus and tend to question any arrest of their religious leaders.

The standoff started at about 10am after some 200 villagers, mostly women and children, blocked a Pattani-Yala road and demanded Isma-ae's release. He was arrested on Sunday in connection to a recent attck.

 "We have received a written guaranteeing from religious and local leaders that Isma-ae will be release (on bail) on the condition that he would be available at any time for further questioning relating the charges," Pattani's Governor Panu Uthairat said.

Panu said Isma-ae had given "useful information" concerning the militants' activities.

"We want to end the situation at the soonest because if the blockage continued, ill-intentioned people could exploit the situation to instigate the violence," Panu said.

During the blockage, Panu said, some instigators tried to escalate the situation by planting explosives at four different places in the region and spread spikes that damages many vehicles' tires.

The Nation