A female teacher who went into a coma after being shot in the head by suspected Muslim militants in Pattani on Thursday was pronounced dead yesterday, as the government beefed up security amid growing fears of major attacks during the holiday season.

Chutima Rattanasamnieng, teacher of Ban Takae School in Yarang district, was pronounced dead shortly after midnight at Prince Songkhla Hospital in Songkhla province.

Chutima and her colleague Rungnapa Kongsuwan were riding a motorcycle to their school on Thursday morning when militants on a motorcycle opened fire at them. Both women were shot in the head.

Chutima had a bullet lodged in her brain that doctors were unable to remove the bullet. She became the 61st teacher to be killed in past three years of violence in the deep South.

Chutima's relatives said she had been threatened by the militants who called her on her mobile phone and ordered her to leave the area or they would not be able to "guarantee her safety".

Rungnapa remains in a coma. She was shot in the jaw and neck. Doctors have operated to save her life but are not sure she will be able to speak again.

Meanwhile, Thai security agencies went on high alert in the three southernmost provinces amid intelligence reports that militants were planning major attacks during the New Year celebrations.

"Plans have been prepared to counter the expected attacks in several areas by the insurgents during or after the festival," Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said.

Security agencies said January 4 marked the third anniversary of a major raid on an armoury in which militants made off with more than 300 MI6 rifles. The incident was a major humiliation for the government of then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who could no longer deny the political underpinnings of the incident and began to officially acknowledge that a new generation of Malay separatists had surfaced.

"We should not underestimate the opponent. We have to be prepared," Surayud said yesterday.

He compared the conflict to boxing, saying the fight is still far from over but that "we are evaluating our fighters as the fight continues."

"If I owned a boxing club, of course, I'd want to win," added Surayud.