The first arson attack was on Ban Baloh school in Pattani's Sai Buri district at about 3am. The fire damaged two rooms of a wooden building before villagers put it out.

The second attack on Ban Konae Nue school in Narathiwat's Rangae district took place at about 1pm, when the janitor who guards the school went to a nearby mosque for his daily prayers.

Six classrooms in the wooden building were completely destroyed, said Sub-Lieutenant Nares Phumkaew of Rangae district police station, who estimated the damage at Bt300,000.

Both schools were closed following the decision of the Southern Teachers Federation earlier this week to halt classes due to safety concerns. The schools are due to reopen next week.

Meanwhile, the Pulo yesterday expressed concern about the violence against teachers and other civilians in the Malay-speaking region, saying the daily "chaos and carnage" was becoming an "unbearable scene for us all".

"As one of the active liberation movements, Pulo is also worrying about any acts by violent means, especially on women and children," Pulo's foreign affairs chief, Kasturi Mahkuta, said in a statement.

Kasturi was responding to a recent statement from Human Rights Watch about the daily killings in the three southernmost provinces.

Kasturi defended local women for sometimes acting as human shields in stand-offs with security forces trying to enter their villages.

He said it reflected "their anger about the extensive abuse of power by the Thai security forces in curbing the current uprising".

Pulo did not rule out that some of the violent acts of sabotage may have been carried out by Thai security forces who may be trying to "shift the blame elsewhere because they are unable to contain the violence - in this case by discrediting the liberation movements".

Kasturi praised efforts by neutral parties to monitor human rights in the region and added that one of Pulo's objectives was to prevent the Malays from being assimilated by the Thai state at the expense of their cultural identity.