Insurgents kill a local school teacher in Pattani

Akom Suwanawong, 57, a resident of Pattani's Tambon Sabarang, was shot dead at close range while riding his motorbike to the school this morning.

Police said the attackers made off with Akom's 9mm handgun.

Meanwhile, Narathiwat police were going through the closed circuit video to look for suspects who may have placed the bomb at the outdoor market Thursday.

Eleven of the 23 injured have been released from the hospital yesterday afternoon after receiving minor treatment.

The attack came amid claims of limited success by the authorities, pointing to the drop of the number of attacks. In 2007, more than 100 public schools came under arson attacks. But in 2008, up to now, only ten schools have been attacked.

But analysts said using the decline in the number of attacks was misleading because a number of attacks over the recent months have been much more deadly and intense, inflicting serious casualties.

While intelligence appeared to have been improved some what, the drop on attacks on public schools did not reflect on the working of the state security apparatus, whose policy remained largely the same as previous years.