PATTANI - A school was set on fire in Nong Chik district early on Friday, the same district where security forces on Wednesday raided a hidden base in a mangrove forest used by insurgents for making bombs.
Arsonists struck at Ban Khai school in tambon Pulopuyo, said Pol Capt Sahat Chanmai, a duty officer at Nong Chik police station.
The attack was reported around 4.45am on Friday.
Fire trucks and crews immediately deployed to the school quickly doused the blaze, but the school’s library on the first floor of the two-storey building was burned out.
Authorities believed the arson was in retaliation for the succesful attack on the secret insurgent camp on Wednesday, whch resulted in the arrest of a bombmaker and seizure of bomb making chemicals and equipment and a stash of firearms.
Police, soldiers and forensic officers inspected the school on Friday morning.
They found pieces of five car tyres in the fire-gutted library, where the blaze started.
Forensic officers collected evidence for DNA testing.