The court will be asked to rule on the "appropriateness" of the detention of the teachers because they have been held for two weeks but have had no formal charges filed against them, said a source familiar with the issue but who asked not to be named.

Police originally held 19 teachers but released one last Friday on a technicality because they had misplaced his documentation, which had to be handed to the Office of the Attorney General.

Pol Colonel Sokuan Khampeera, head of the holding centre, would not go into detail as to why the teachers were being held but did cite the mandate granted to the authorities under the Emergency Law.

An aid worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the families of the detained teachers visit them on a daily basis, and are stunned at the actions of the authorities.

He said there appeared to be no grounds for the detention other then the fact the teachers

were from the Thammawitthaya School.

The teachers were on an island just off Satun on an annual retreat where they were planning next semester's admission policy.

The private Islamic school came under the international spotlight when the government two years ago accused a number of its teachers of masterminding a spate of violence in the restive region.

Meanwhile, a firebomb was thrown at the home of Chehe Sadao, 42, a village defence volunteer said yesterday.

Police believe the attack was carried out by insurgents responsible for the ongoing violence that so far has claimed about 1,200 lives in the three southernmost provinces.

The Nation

Yala