A school building was burned down by an arsonist in Narathiwat's Cho Ai Rong district on Wednesday night, and police blamed separatist militants.
Pol Maj-Gen Chote Chavalvivat, the Narathiwat police chief, Samart Waradisai, the deputy provincial governor, Pol Col Prayong Khotsakha, the Cho Ai Rong police chief, led teams to forensic and bomb disposal police to Ban Tango School in tambon Marubo Ok for examination on Thursday morning.
Pol Col Prayong Khotsakha, the Cho Ai Rong police chief, said the two-storey building at Ban Tango School in tambon Marubo Ok was set ablaze at about 8.20pm while members of the village security team guarding the school were at the village mosque for prayers.
Traces of fuel oil were found at two spots at the burnt building.
Pol Col Prayong said while he was travelling in a pick-up truck to the school after the attack to examine the scene a bomb buried in the road was detonated remotely by militants hiding in a roadside rubber plantation.
The explosion made a crater in the road about one metre deep and 2.5 metres wide, but his vehicle escaped with only slight damage.
All police on board, including himself, were unhurt, the district police chief said.