Authorities yesterday stepped up their hunt for the remaining insurgents who engaged police in a running gun battle that killed three officers assigned to guard a temporary military draft centre.

Police searched the homes of five suspects who were arrested or killed in Tuesday's deadly shoot-out.

Hasan Somoh, 22, a resident of Thung Yang Daeng district, was said to be the only one of the three arrested men who had confessed. His mother was overwhelmed by the commotion of the search and passed out.

Two of the retreating gunmen were shot dead by police chasing them about 100 metres away from the centre. Police believe at least eight gunmen were involved but it was very difficult to assess their numbers because around 1,000 people were gathered at the makeshift centre.

Police said two bystanders, believed to be villagers, were hit by bullets when the attack took place about 50 metres from the Panare District Office.

Also on Tuesday, in Yala's Raman district, a roadside bomb exploded, wounding three border patrol police and damaging a military-owned pickup truck while creating a three-metre-wide, 1.5-metre-deep hole.

The three were part of a 16-strong unit that had been visiting villagers in Tambon Kehror to hand out household goods.

In Yala's Muang district, Chaiyarn Chainukul, 36, a mechanic, was shot three times by a man using a .38-calibre handgun.

Chaiyarn has a brother who is working as a defence volunteer in the district, police said.

In Narathiwat's Tambon Tanyonglimo, a roadside bomb went off in front of a local

school, hitting one of 25 soldiers

on patrol. The bomb was be-

lieved to have been set off remotely. In the same tambon, officers were able to defuse a bomb at a local shop.

In Narathiwat's Sungai Padi district, authorities raided a shop in Tambon Niko and confiscated contraband materials, including 60 rounds of .22 calibre ammunition, eight two-way radios and five motorbikes whose owners could not be verified.

Police are looking for the shop owner, who is believed to be on the run.

In the same district, Aswan Hama, 22, believed to have been behind a spate of killings in the restive region, was re-enacting for police how he carried out attacks from a motorbike.

Later at night, two public schools went up in flames in Pattani, one in Mayo district and the other in Thung Yang Daeng district.

Villagers in Mayo's Tambon Krawa were able to extinguish the fire before it caused serious damage while in Thung Yang Daeng's Tambon Taku at least one building was totally gutted.

The Nation

Pattani