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BANGKOK, Thailand -- A Buddhist teacher who was beaten into a coma by a mob demanding the release of Islamic insurgents has only a slim chance of survival, her doctor said Saturday. Juling Kamphongmoon sustained severe injuries, including blood clots in her brain, when she was beaten by Muslim villagers Friday who were holding two other women teachers hostage at a government school in southern Thailand. "There is slim chance that she will survive. I would like to urge Thais throughout the country to pray for a miracle to happen to Juling," Dr. Sumet Phirawut told a news conference.

More than 200 villagers surrounded the school in Narathiwat province to demand the release of two suspected Muslim rebels arrested earlier the same day in connection with the killing of two marines. The hostages were held about three hours before being released. Another teacher was slightly injured in the protest.

Last September, villagers in the same district held hostage two marines who were stabbed to death. The villagers believed that they had been involved in the killing of two of their fellow residents at a village teashop. Police have arrested dozens people in connection with the killings.

More than 1,300 people have been killed in violence in the south since a separatist movement flared in January 2004. The country's three southernmost provinces of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani are the only Muslim-majority areas in Thailand, which is predominantly Buddhist. Southerners have long complained of mistreatment by authorities and discrimination, especially in jobs and education.

Not that I'd advocate knuckling under to thugs, but has anyone in Thailand considering lopping off these three provinces and building a big fence?

Supplement 7:40 pm CDT: I've set the flag to save this thread as a classic.

I appreciate Dave D.'s list of options. I'm also pretty much in lotp's corner. I'd prefer not to commit gruesome acts, but as Old Spook notes, the Islamicists started this, not me: however gruesome it gets, they're not going to get me, my country and (especially) my daughter. The liberals who find this distasteful had better find a way to shut the Islamicists down; if they can't, I'll ratchet my way up Dave's list til I find something that does the job.