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Cop Killed, School Torched in Southern Thailand
Jihadi *sswipes Suspected Muslim separatists ambushed police patrols and torched a school as Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont returned to southern Thailand Saturday for a third attempt at ending the bloody insurgency, officials said.

A police sergeant was in critical condition after he was shot three times at close range while on patrol with three other officers in the busy market of Yala's provincial capital, said police Maj. Suthas Noosikhong.

On Friday night, suspected insurgents killed a police sergeant in Pattani province and set fire to a government school in Yala province, totally destroying it.

Surayud, who arrived in southern Thailand Friday night, said he hoped for a peaceful solution to the conflict. "My government is standing firm on appeasement reconciliation and a peaceful solution despite clear evidence strong rumors and speculation that the situation is not improving," he told some 1,000 community and religious leaders in Pattani province on Saturday.

On his first visit, Surayud groveled shamelessly offered an apology to the local Muslims for past government wrongdoing, which was widely praised by supposed moderates in the south. But, predictably, the insurgency has continued unabated.
Posted by: ryuge 2007-01-27
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=178880