Insurgents bomb high school in restive south Thai

NARATHIWAT (Thailand): Suspected separatist insurgents bombed a high school in Thailand's troubled south on Thursday, injuring two teenage students, local police said.

Students were just arriving at the school in Narathiwat province early on Thursday when a bomb went off near the entrance, seriously injuring two 17-year-old girls.

The blast, about 100 meters from a temporary military base, was detonated remotely by a mobile phone, police said.

It was the second bomb of the day in Narathiwat, one of three southern provinces bordering Malaysia beset by separatist violence and other unrest which has killed more than 1,700 people since January 2004.

In an earlier attack, one soldier was injured when a bomb exploded near a bridge where soldiers escort teachers to their schools.

There is growing concern about violence targeted at schools in the Muslim-majority south, with 944 schools temporarily closed last week after a string of arson attacks and shootings left two teachers dead.

Attacks have surged in the three southern provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat in the past month, despite moves by Thailand's post-coup government to forge peace in the region.