HAT YAI, Thailand — Four paramilitary volunteers were killed Thursday while guarding a school in southern Thailand, the latest of several recent attacks in a region troubled by a Muslim separatist insurgency since 2004. An unknown number of attackers dressed like state security personnel approached the armed territorial defense volunteers guarding the school in Pattani province and shot them dead shortly before noon Thursday, police Lt. Col. Wicha Nupannoi said. The attackers took four HK33 assault rifles from their victims before fleeing, scattering nails and other material on the road to delay pursuers, he said. A flurry of similar attacks took place in the last week of December. “The insurgents consider school officials to be symbolic of the Thai Buddhist state’s occupation of Malay Muslim territory.

Source: Washington Post January 10, 2019 08:32 UTC