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Akom Suwanawong, 57, a resident of Tambon Sabarang in Pattani, was shot dead at close range in the morning while riding his motorbike to the school where he worked. Police said the killer made off with

Akom's 9mm handgun.

Meanwhile, Narathiwat police officers were going through closed-circuit video footage to look for suspects who may have placed the bomb.

Eleven of the 23 injured had been released from hospital yesterday afternoon after receiving treatment for minor injuries.

The attack came amid claims of limited success by authorities, pointing to a fall in the number of attacks. In 2007, more than 100 public schools were hit by arson attacks, compared to 10 this year.

But analysts have said that using such statistics was misleading because recent attacks have been much more deadly.

While intelligence appears to have improved somewhat, the decline in the number attacks on schools does not reflect an improvement in the effectiveness of the state security apparatus, whose operational policy has remained largely unchanged.