Thai Army chief: Monks, teachers vulnerable in restive south

BANGKOK, 7 March 2011 (NNT) – Army Chief General Prayut Chan-O-Cha has indicated that monks and teachers are increasingly becoming major targets of unrest perpetrators in the southernmost provinces.

General Prayut stated that security officers have been more proactive in their operations recently, resulting in the arrest of many key unrest instigators; the latter, therefore, try to retaliate against government forces by triggering more violence on civilians.

Citing intelligence reports, the army chief admitted that unrest perpetrators had shifted their targets to monks and teachers, and their attacks were often conducted either in the morning or in the evening. Last month authorities discovered 30 violence attempts and successfully prevented 27 of them.

NNT