A Buddhist monk was hacked to death Thursday while begging for food, an attack the police chief said was aimed at inciting religious unrest in the Muslim-dominated south.
Thailand's southernmost provinces have been tense since Jan. 4 when suspected Muslim separatists torched 21 government-run schools and raided an army camp in Narathiwat province, killing four soldiers and stealing hundreds of rifles.
The monk was collecting food from followers in Narathiwat's Bachor district when an unidentified man approached him on a motorcycle and chopped him to death with a machete, national police chief Gen. Sant Sarutanond said.
Walking from house to house to accept donations is a daily morning ritual for monks. About 90 percent of Thailand's 63 million people are Buddhists.
"We believe the Buddhist monk was killed by a group of men who mean to fuel the situation. The attackers want to create more misunderstanding and mistrust among the local people," Sant said.
Muslim leaders in the south condemned Thursday's attack, Sant said.
Police regard Bachor as a hotbed of anti-government violence. The sometimes heavy-handed government efforts to track down the perpetrators of the Jan. 4 attacks have irritated local Muslims, who are traditionally suspicious toward local officials appointed by the central government.
Buddhists are a minority in the southernmost provinces but tend to be wealthier than the majority ethnic Malay Muslims there who regard the ethnic Thais as outsiders. Buddhists hold most of the top civil service and police posts in the area, which can put them at odds with the populace.
However, sectarian violence is rare anywhere in Thailand, and the monk's killing was the first such attack in the south for several years.