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Published on December 28, 2007

Kusalali Neteh and Ahamad Madeeyoh were guarding the area to provide safety for teachers and passers by.

The volunteers received injuries to their backs and necks when the bomb was detonated by mobile phone.

The explosion occurred at around 8am while the two were grouped with seven other volunteers guarding the area.

It was the second bout violence in Pattani, a day after arsonists set fire to a public school in the Ma-Yor district at about 2am.

 The Ban Mawoh school, a wooden building, was completely destroyed by the fire, police said.

Meanwhile a number of bomb hoaxes in Pattani's Kapho district have forced 10 schools to shut down, a school director said.

Executives of the Ban Makoh School in the same district made the decision to close the school until the end of New Year celebrations after militants killed three soldiers who took care of security for teachers at the school, said Ya Asae, the school's acting director.

The soldiers died in front of the school.

Bomb hoaxes and threats of attacks have been made to other schools in the district forcing the same decision to be made, Ya said.

Narin Saro, Director of Pattani's Educational Region 3, confirmed the closure. "As the schools are facing uncertainty, we allow the schools' executives to make the decision," he said.

Teachers and schools have been under threat since violence erupted at the beginning of 2004.

The unrest in the South has resulted in the deaths of 26 teachers, injured 22 and 148 schools have been burned down over the past 12 months, according to Yala-based Southern Educational Inspector Office.

The Nation