Two men in student uniforms burst into a classroom full of young children in Thailand's rebellious Muslim south yesterday and shot dead a Buddhist teacher, police said.
It was one of the most dramatic shootings of teachers, targets of militants as symbols of the largely Buddhist government in far away Bangkok, in a two-year separatist insurgency in which more than 1,300 people have been killed.
``The teacher was still holding a piece of chalk'' when he was killed, police Colonel Banlue Chawej said.
The primary school, which has 11 teachers and about 250 students, was temporarily closed after the shooting, police said.
The murder prompted at least 20 other village schools in the same district of Narathiwat Province to close indefinitely, a provincial education official said.
"How could they have the courage to teach after their colleague was shot dead while he was teaching a class," Pairat Saengthong said.
"We have village guards to patrol the school, but they are not given guns to protect us," Pairat said.
Police ruled out personal conflict as a motive for killing 46-year-old Prasarn Makchoo, who died instantly with chalk in his hand after one of the two men shot him with a pistol in front of a primary class.
"He has taught at this school for 20 years and has no fight with anyone. This is the work of insurgents," Bunlue said.
The two gunmen escaped on motorcyles driven by colleagues who waited outside the school, police said.
At least 30 teachers have been killed in almost daily gun and bomb attacks in the largely Muslim, ethnic Malay south since the latest insurgency began.
Other victims include soldiers, civil servants -- Muslims and Buddhists alike -- and monks.
The government has tried many means to end the violence and win the hearts and minds of the 1.8 million people living in the region bordering Malaysia, from brute force to bombing the region with millions of paper "peace" birds by air force warplanes.
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