Christians Under Attack

Attackers opened fired and hurled explosives at a dormitory where 75 boys were sleeping at the Bamrungsart Pondok boarding school in the Songkhla province. Seven other students were injured.

Following the attack, more than 500 protesters gathered outside the school, carrying the dead bodies through the crowd. Two buildings were set alight at a nearby government-owned school and some protesters were said to have thrown stones at police.

Police blamed the incident on Islamic insurgents, but villagers, have refused to believe Muslims were behind the violence.

Police Col. Thammasak Wasaksiri said: "Insurgents always use this trick of attacking Muslim people to instigate villagers and get them to believe that police or soldiers were responsible for the attack.

"The villagers are accusing paratroopers of attacking the school."

Violence has risen in the south since a military-installed government took power in September following a coup that ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

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