Five people have been killed in a wave of attacks across Thailand's south as militants target defence volunteers and schools, police said on Thursday.
The attacks came ahead of a special cabinet meeting later Thursday, chaired by army-installed premier Surayud Chulanont, to discuss ways of tackling the violence raging in three southern provinces bordering Malaysia.
One man was killed late Wednesday and another died early Thursday in shootings in Narathiwat, one of the three provinces roiled by an insurgency that has killed more than 1,600 people since January 2004.
In nearby Pattani province, a 15-year-old boy was also shot dead late Wednesday, while the same night in Yala a 16-year-old boy was killed in a gun battle between young militants and village defence volunteers, police said.
One defence volunteer was killed midday Thursday in Pattani in a drive-by shooting, police added.
Amid the shootings, militants bombed an elementary school in Narathiwat early Thursday, damaging its cafeteria, and burned down a Buddhist man's house.
The militants left a note at the house, written in Thai, saying they would continue to carry out attacks in retaliation for the arrests of religious teachers.
In Yala on Wednesday, an elementary school was destroyed in an arson attack, prompting local officials to close 72 schools in the province.
On Tuesday his government decided to adopt the regional dialect of Malay as a working language for local officials. He has also apologised for past abuses by security forces.
Unlike the rest of Thailand, people living in the provinces along the southern border with Malaysia are mainly Muslim and ethnic Malay. The region was an independent sultanate annexed by Thailand in 1902.