"When we see the suspects' faces, we know we are losing this battle. We are fighting against 10-year olds," Lieutenant Pisan Wattanawongkeeree, commander of military operations in the southern region, told a group of Narathiwat teachers on Saturday.
Some Muslims in Narathiwat, about 15km from the Malaysian border, are working with the police and army to improve security, re-build schools burned by arsonists who see them as symbols of the government, and cement ties between Buddhist and Muslim communities.
"I am happy to see soldiers coming to help us re-build the school," said Jaesalamae Jaemingyeng, 56, who lives in a village near a hill where a 24m-tall rotund Buddha gazes serenely over a rice paddy.
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