Army chief orders survey on southern schools damaged by arson attacks

BANGKOK, October 12 (TNA) – Thailand’s Army Chief Gen. Udomdej Sitabutr has ordered 4th Army Region commander Lt. Gen. Prakan Cholayuth to hunt for the arsonists who had set fire on six schools in the violence-plagued southern province of Pattani before dawn Sunday, an army spokesman said. The spokesman said the army believed the string of arson fires on six schools could be in retaliation to arresting several key figures of insurgents and seizing of a large amount of weapons recently. Police said earlier that five schools in Pattani’s Thung Yang Daeng district and one school in Mayo district were set on fire at about 2.30 a.m. The army chief is concerned on the incidents and has ordered Lt. Gen. Prakan to speed up evaluating damages and to also help the affected people. Meanwhile, Pattani deputy governor Sompoch Suwannarat said that he believed the arsonists intended to damage property rather than hurting officials. He said representatives of the army, police and from the administrative side will meet Sunday evening to evaluate the situation again. (TNA)