Songkhla border patrol officers stop and check a pickup carrying villagers on their way to Saba Yoi yesterday. Hundreds of Thai Muslims gathered in the town demanding justice after the killing of two young Islamic

Gunmen killed three students and injured seven others when they attacked an Islamic school in Saba Yoi district here with grenades and machine guns late on Saturday night in a bloody incident that triggered a fiery protest by Muslim villagers who believed it was carried out by government troops.

Following the attack, three Buddhists were shot dead in two separate incidents in the same district.

Hundreds of villagers yesterday felled trees to block the road leading to Bamrungsart Pondok School at Pusuleh village to prevent security troops from inspecting the crime scene as they demanded the removal of a paramilitary troops base from their community after the attack.

The villagers said they believed that troops from the military base attacked the boarding school in revenge for a gun attack on their camp on Friday night. After more than 10 hours of a tense stand-off, the protesters agreed to disperse and allow investigators to enter the school today.

A band of armed men hurled grenades into a dormitory at the Islamic school at around 10pm on Saturday before firing from assault rifles into the building. Two students, aged 12 and 14, were immediately killed and another 17-year-old student was later pronounced dead in hospital. Seven others were injured in the attack, police said. Shortly after the school attack, a group of men instigated Pusuleh villagers to gather and block security troops access to the school. The village is one of those listed as "red areas" where Muslim insurgents were most active, according to investigators.

Hundreds of troops from other units were mobilised to join soldiers based in the area in a high-security alert as the number of protesters grew to hundreds yesterday afternoon. During their demonstration, the villagers paraded the bodies of two students killed in the school attack as they rode on about 40 pick-up trucks around their community.

After negotiations, the protesters agreed to disperse but the inspection of the attacked school had to be postponed to today.

While the protest was going on, a gunman riding pillion on a motorcycle shot at two men riding on another bike at Long Khuan village in Saba Yoi district at around 10.30am, killing the rider and seriously injuring the other, police said.

 About an hour later, another gun attack was reported on Saba Yoi-Khao Daeng Road, about half a kilometre from the first shooting scene. Two female workers of a charcoal mill were killed and two other male workers were injured.

The Nation

Songkhla