Monk hacked to death with axe

PAK THO (AFP): The continuing scandals in the Thai clergy took a gruesome turn on Wednesday with the discovery of the body of a 37-year-old monk who had been hacked to death with an axe in a temple near the western Thailand border. Police said today that the body of Phra Ko Muang, who was originally from Burma, was found in Wat Maneeloi in the district of Pak Tho. He had two deep, long cuts in his head, made with an axe. Police are still investigating the killing and have not yet named any suspects or established a motive for the death of Phra Ko Muang, who had fled Myanmar in 1988 during the pro-democracy uprising and who became a monk in Thailand in 1994.