Uniformed and plainclothes soldiers stand guard as Thai-Muslim women and children stage a sit-in under umbrellas in the middle of a road in Yarang district of Pattani province yesterday. The banner reads ‘Why was an innocent man arrested?’

A tense six-hour stand-off between authorities and some 200 Muslim villagers in Pattani's Yarang district ended peacefully yesterday afternoon after police agreed to release an Islamic religious teacher on condition he would be available for further questioning.

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

It was the second day of the stand-off as nearly 100 women and children gathered on the roadside yesterday to pressure the authorities to release Isma-ae, who was arrested on Sunday morning under the emergency law.

Stand-offs between local Malay villagers and security forces has been a regular occurrence in the restive region where a new generation of insurgents have stepped-up their attacks against government and civilian positions.

Some have led to violence, such as that at the Ban Kujingluepa School in September, which ended with two teachers being injured, including Juling Ponganmul, who is still in a coma.

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

Yesterday's stand-off 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 with a recent attack.

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

Panu said Isma-ae had given "useful information" concerning militant activities.

"We wanted to end the situation soon because if the blockade continued, ill-intentioned people could exploit the situation to instigate violence," Panu said.

During the blockade, Panu said, some instigators had tried to escalate the situation by planting explosives at four different places in the region and had put down road spikes damaging many vehicle tyres.

Meanwhile, violence continued elsewhere in the region as two schools were set ablaze. In Yarang district of the same province, Ban Krueseh School was set ablaze late on Sunday night. The fire destroyed the entire one-storey building. The teaching staff maintained that the school would reopen today - with tents as classrooms.

Ban Ba-ngo school in Mayo district in the same province, was also torched. The fire damaged stationary, books and other materials and caused minor damage to the school building before fire-fighters managed to stop the blaze.

Police believed Muslim insurgents were behind both attacks.

Meanwhile, in Than To district of Yala, Private Athiwat Phoongam-nit was injured in an ambush by suspected Muslim militants late on Sunday night. Athiwat was patrolling with other security officials when the attack took place.

More than 1,900 people have lost their lives since the violence re-emerged in the deep south in January 2004. Despite the government's attempt to promote peace and reconciliation, the bombing, shooting and arson attacks continue in the region on a nearly daily basis.