Thai army raided two Islamic schools in the country's southern Pattani province after reports of their possible link with terrorism in the region, local press reported here on Monday.
The Pattani Task force on Sunday morning raided two Islamic schools in Pattani's Thung Yang Daeng district and launched searches of the premises. The army also took principals of the schools to a military camp in Nong Chik district for questioning, said the newspaper Bangkok Post.
The raid and interrogation were ordered after the army discovered that the two schools had received a large donation from Saudi Arabia, and suspected part of the money was used to finance terrorism in the South, said a military source.
However, the move outraged Islamic teachers in the deep South.
Nideh Wabah, chairman of the Islamic schools association of the five southern provinces said the raid will provoke a rift between soldiers and the Muslim population, adding the army had offended local teachers.
Meanwhile, in Pattani's Yarang district, a retired government official was shot dead Sunday night while riding a motorcycle to an aerobics class.
The attackers were two motorcyclists who fired four shots at him. On Saturday, a 55-year-old policeman was found dead at a roadside in the province. Sustaining three shots in the back and neck, the man was believed to be killed shortly before his body was found.
