Eight teachers from an elementary school were rounded up, but only the two Buddhists among them were held hostage by the villagers, who were demanding the release of two men arrested earlier in the day in connection with the shooting death of a Thai marine two months ago at Laloh railway station in Narathiwat's Rusoh district.

According to Kuching Reupah's village chief Arong Yusof and his deputy Mahdawee Payohkase, six Muslim teachers refused to leave the area out of concern for the safety of their two colleagues, one of whom was admitted to Narathiwat Hospital's intensive care unit.

The two Buddhist teachers were held in the village's child development centre, just 60 metres from the school compound.

The village chief and his deputy said they negotiated for their release for more than two hours, but decided to charge into the centre when they heard screams coming from the room where the teachers were held.

"We pushed through the door and five young men with their heads covered ran past us. They had sticks in their hands," Arong said.

A pool of blood was found on the floor.

"I think they would have killed them if we hadn't rushed in," Arong said. "It was like Tanyonglimo," said the chief, referring to a similar incident last year in nearby Sungai Padi district where two marines were brutally beaten to death in Rangae district.

Arong told Fourth Army chief Lt-General Ongkorn Thongprasom that the six villagers were summoned by a woman who used the mosque's loud speaker to urge the villagers to gather at the school to protest the arrest of the two suspects.

Pol Lt-General Adul Saengsingkoew, commissioner of the Ninth Police Region, told reporters that the response time of the authorities was impressive even though the road leading to the school was blocked with logs and spikes.

Local communities declined to speak to reporters, while others shut their doors and windows. The anxiety was evident in the faces of the two village headsmen, one of whom suggested that they may have put their lives on the line by sticking up for the two teachers.

"I am concerned for my safety," said Mahdawee. "The Bt2,000 monthly salary for this position may not be worth it."

Yesterday's stand-off was the latest in a series of similar incidents that have involved local communities and security agencies trying to arrest suspected insurgents behind the spate of violence in the region.

Don Pathan

The Nation

KUCHING REUPAH, NARATHIWAT