Pattani: An eight-year-old girl and a volunteer ranger were wounded while two insurgent suspects were killed in a clash between security forces and militants near a suspected hideout in Yaring district yesterday morning.
More than 100 security officers surrounded a house in tambon Talorkapor at 5am following a tip-off that militants involved in Thursday's deadly shooting at Ban Pukoh School in Yaring were hiding there.
The two sides exchanged gunfire for more than five hours before the situation was brought under control. Two suspected insurgents were found dead inside the house and two guns seized from the scene.
The dead men were identified as Abdulloh Samae, who was wanted on six arrest warrants, and Abdulloh Jehlong who is believed to have been wounded in an earlier clash with authorities on Thursday in which four defence volunteers were killed.
The injured ranger was identified as Tida Bua-ngam who sustained minor injuries to his fingers and knee. As for the eight-year-old girl, her back was reportedly grazed by a bullet.
Col Pramote Promin, spokesman for Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc) Region 4, said the clash took place as authorities were looking into a tip-off related to the school shooting.
He said during the siege the suspects opened fire on authorities and injured Mr Tida. Islamic leaders and local figures were called in to persuade the two to surrender but they refused.
In the earlier school attack on Thursday, the four men killed were guarding the building when the attackers opened fire just before lunchtime.
Unicef Thailand representative Thomas Davin said on Friday that one child at the school was injured by debris and some who may have witnessed the attack could face long-term psychological trauma.
"This attack has undoubtedly put the schoolchildren, the teachers and school personnel in harm's way. It has put children at grave risk of injury or death," he said.
"Such violence could also affect parents' willingness to send their children to school -- potentially to the detriment of many children's learning and future development."
Meanwhile, army chief Gen Apirat Kongsompong said yesterday insurgent militants seem to choose vulnerable targets in a recent wave of attacks.
He pointed out that the military presence is a key element in the peace talks, saying if the security force is weakened, negotiations are unlikely to succeed.