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Two policemen shot, three temples bombed in Thailand

A Thai policeman was killed and another wounded in separate shootings yesterday in the country's Muslim south where troops were on high alert for possible militant attacks on the first day of a new school year.

The Muslim policeman died in hospital hours after he was shot in the head as he rode his motorcycle to work in Pattani province, police said.

In a separate incident, gunmen shot a former drug-busting Muslim policeman in Narathiwat province as he walked to a tea shop.

"He was shot three times in his cheek, chest and torso and is being treated," a police colonel said.

"We are investigating but believe the shootings are part of an effort to cause unrest in the southern provinces," a police spokesman said.

The shootings came as thou-sands of heavily armed police and soldiers guarded about 1,000 schools in the restive region, where at least 200 people have died since January in a flare-up of separatist violence that had been dormant for two decades.

Thai television showed armored vehicles bristling with machine guns parked inside playgrounds as students dressed in crisp, new uniforms greeted their teachers in the three southernmost provinces.

State-run schools have been targeted by militants as symbols of government authority since the unrest began in January.

Fears of more sectarian violence in the south grew yesterday after bomb blasts rocked three Buddhist temples overnight, officials said.

Police commissioner Prung Boonpadung said the attacks on the symbols of Buddhism marked a new turn in the crisis in the south where the two communities have historically lived alongside each other in peace.

"They want Buddhists to retaliate so the situation will grow more violent. They have changed strategies and are using the strategy of religion now," Prung said.

Police were working on adjusting their approach to the violence in response to the blasts, he said, without elaborating.

The temples were located in Narathiwat province. The devices were planted at the entrance to the temple complexes, and the explosion destroyed the gates, damaged the walls and left two people slightly injured, officials said.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said militant groups in the south, home to most of Thailand's minority Muslim community, were still attempting to create unrest.

"They have the potential [to carry out further attacks] and they also have the training," Thaksin told reporters.

"Muslims don't agree [with the bombings] and don't think about a religious conflict, but there are some groups still trying to disturb the situation and make people believe that there is [religious] conflict," he said.

Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yonchaiyudh, who is in charge of security affairs, said earlier this month that government forces were on the verge of capturing up to 19 ringleaders behind this year's violence.
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