Militants hide in school and kill 3 soldiers in Pattani

Teachers said seven militants, all with their head covered, positioned themselves near the fence of a public school full of elementary students and commenced fire at a unit of patrolling security forces.

The gunfight lasted for about 20minute gunfight before the insurgents retreated to the woods. The three victims died on their way to the hospital.

The shooting came one day after soldiers killed three insurgents in a sweepup operation in a Yala village of Ban Tonyee.

Assisted by helicopters, more than 100 troops were dispatched to area, sealing it off by a one kilometre radius as they launched a massive mand hunt for the seven.

Elsewhere in the troubled region, two primary schools  Panare district of Pattani and in Muang district of Yala  were burnt down overnight in the Muslimmajority south where an ongoing insurgency has claimed more than 2,700 lives since January 2004.

Both security forces and insurgents have been criticised of bringing students into line of fire with their presence in the school ground. Rangers often positioned their outpost in school ground while the insurgents often attack public schools and Buddhist teachers.