Cloud of suspicion hangs over Thai south schools

By Martin Petty

YALA, Thailand (Reuters) - Headmaster Rossi Sulon laughs dismissively when asked about his school's links to a separatist insurgency in Thailand's deep south.

"Look around you," he says as children play in the courtyard of the Thamma Wittaya Islamic school in Yala.

"Does this look like a breeding ground for terrorists?"

Thailand's biggest Islamic school has been under a cloud of suspicion since violence flared in 2004 in the mainly Muslim provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani.

Authorities have accused its teachers of recruiting for a rebellion they say was masterminded by the school's former principal, Sapaeing Basor, who is believed to have fled Thailand.

Sulon said his staff at the school of 5,400 students is not involved. He also insisted Basor, who has a 10 million baht ($293,000) price on his head, played no part in the near-daily shootings and bombings that have killed nearly 3,500 people.

"There's no recruitment or radical teaching here. We teach our students to become good Muslims," the soft-spoken Sulon told Reuters at his school office.

"I know Sapaeing is a good man. Everyone respects him," he added. "They are chasing the wrong man, a man who fled because he thought he would be killed."