More than 1,000 schools closed and many monks are evacuating their temples as tensions between Buddhists and Muslims is heightening in Southern Thailand, Thai officials have reported.

The Nation newspaper reported that Thai Buddhist monks in Narathiwat are evacuated their temples for safer places outside the Muslim provinces. Thailand is predominantly Buddhist except for its southernmost provinces, which are mostly Muslim

PM Thaksin Shinawatra said local leaders from the Muslim-dominated south told him some groups behind the violence received foreign funds. The Prime Minister did not elaborate further.

Public schools in Thailand's Muslim dominated provinces will remain closed this week while Thai government officials discuss security measures for teachers, who are currently receiving death threats.

The recent violence in the South of Thailand includes the killing of 3 Buddhist monks, who had been hacked to death by young men with machetes and the shootings of three Thai police officers.

Attacks have increased in Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala provinces in the South of Thailand since 4 January 2004, the torching of 20 schools and a raid on a Thai military armory that left 4 soldiers dead. The government of Thailand blames militant Muslim separatists possibly linked to the al-Qaida organization and other terror groups.