Security measures to be stepped up for teachers in Thailand's deep South

NARATHIWAT, November 18 (TNA) - A meeting between military and educational authorities in the Thai far South was held in Pattani Province on Friday to discuss stepped-up security measures for teachers in the troubled deep South, after five teachers were injured in a shooting attack in Rue Soh District of nearby Narathiwat Province by suspected insurgents on Thursday. Deputy Commanding General of the 4th Army Area Command Major General Suphat Vichitkarn invited chiefs of Thai educational administrative offices and representatives of teachers in three insurgency-plagued southernmost Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani Provinces for the discussion at the meeting, held at the Royal Thai Army's Sirindhorn Camp in Pattani's Yarang District. Chief of Narathiwat's primary educational office, region 1, Atthasit Ratanaklaew acknowledged that overall security measures for teachers in Narathiwat have been in good place, except an inbound road toward the Rue Soh District, where troops of 19 local units have been recently withdrawn for other missions. Atthasit insisted, however, that there will be no closure of any school in the deep South, following the violent attack against the director and four other teachers of Laharn School in Rue Soh on Thursday. (TNA)