Thai police killed in bomb attack

Police are hunting for the killers of two marines

Two police officers have been killed by a bomb in southern Thailand, where tension remains high after two marines were beaten to death earlier this week.

The device exploded as the officers were escorting teachers to a school in the province of Narathiwat.

At least two other deaths were also reported in the south on Friday.

Thailand's largely Muslim southern provinces have been hit by a wave of violence since early 2004, leaving more than 900 people dead.

The government has blamed Muslim separatists, while local people have been angered by the security forces' often brutal suppression of the violence.

Teacher targets

The police officers died when a mobile phone-triggered device went off early on Friday morning as they made their way to Ban Kaseanue school, in Sungai Padi district.

"The police were on foot, clearing a path, before allowing teachers to go through, and the bomb planted on the roadside exploded," Police Col Term Intarasara told the Associated Press.

VIOLENCE-HIT SOUTH Home to most of Thailand's 4% Muslim minority Muslim rebels fought the government up to the mid-80s Suspected militants have upped attacks since 2004, targeting Buddhists Security forces' response criticised by rights groups Thailand's restive south

Thousands of police and soldiers have been assigned to provide security for teachers in the three southernmost provinces.

Teachers have frequently been the target of attacks by Muslim separatists, as they are seen as a symbol of Bangkok's influence.

Hours after the policemen were killed, another bomb went off in the same district of Narathiwat, injuring three soldiers.

Also on Friday, a Burmese construction worker was reportedly shot dead in Yala province, and a Thai labourer was killed in neighbouring Pattani.

Marine deaths

Friday's violence comes just two days after another incident in the Narathiwat village of Tanyong Limo, in which two marines were held hostage by villagers who blamed them for an earlier shooting incident. The two were then beaten and knifed to death.

Thai officials insist the men were investigating the shooting, rather than being involved in it.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has vowed tough action against the marines' killers.

He pledged on Thursday that while "there is not going to be retaliation... there will have to be law enforcement".

The government's hard-line policy in the south has often been criticised as too harsh - and analysts fear that the killing of the two marines could lead to a fresh clampdown in the area.