Four paramilitary officers were shot dead inside a Pattani province school, not far from where a bomb injured a 12-year-old girl on her way to school two days ago.
The military said assailants disguised themselves as rangers before going into the Ban Bukoh School in Pattani’s Yarang district this morning. Once inside, they opened fire on four members of the Volunteer Defense Corps and stole their guns.
Officials said the four victims, all in their 30s, were pronounced dead on the scene. No teachers or students were injured. The attackers also scattered nails at the school’s exits in an attempt to stall the pursuit.
One teacher said only gunshots were heard as the attack happened while classes were in session. All students were evacuated from the premises and a security unit deployed to the scene, according to the military.
Col. Pramote Prom-in, the regional Internal Security Operations Command spokesman, said checkpoints would be set up across the district in hope of intercepting the perpetrators.
It was the third such attack in the restive south in recent days. On Tuesday, a soldier and a 12-year-old girl were injured when a bomb exploded near another school in the same district. That same day, a teacher in Songkhla province was murdered and his truck used for a car bomb which injured six police officers.
