Massacre at a kindergarten in Thailand: Children were stabbed while they were sleeping - 34 dead

Among the dead are at least 23 children, aged 2 to 3 years.

Chilling details of the brutal gunman's attack on a Thai kindergarten are coming to light.

At least 34 people were killed, including 23 children between the ages of 2 and 3, while the attacker - a former police officer who killed his wife and child before killing himself - was armed with a gun and a knife.

The alleged attacker had been dismissed from his service for drug-related reasons, Chakrapat Wichitvaidya told media. He said that eyewitnesses stated that the gunman was also holding a knife.

The attack began at 12.30:09.30 local time (XNUMX:XNUMX Greek time) at a daycare center before the attacker fled in a car, hitting several pedestrians, Jakapat Wijitraitaya, a police colonel in Nong Bua Lambu province, told AFP.

The attacker broke into a locked room while the children were sleeping

About 30 children were at the daycare when the gunman entered, fewer than usual, as heavy rains kept many people indoors, Jipada Bonsom, a local official who was working at the time, told Reuters nearby office.

"The gunman came around lunch time and first shot four or five staff members in the daycare center," Jidappa said, adding that among them was a teacher who was eight months pregnant. "At first, people thought it was sparklers," she added.

The attacker then broke into a locked room where children were sleeping, Jidappa said, to kill them with a knife.

Videos posted on social media showed sheets covering the bodies of children lying in pools of blood in the center of Utai Sawan town in Nong Bua Lambu province.

The attacker had attended a court hearing on drug charges before opening fire at the daycare, police said. The gunman was worried when he arrived at the daycare center to find his child was not there and ran away, then fired at passersby and hit them with his car, police spokesman Paisan Louesobon told ThaiPBS television. According to him, the attacker returned by car to his house and killed his wife and child.

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha spoke of a 'shocking' incident, and expressed his condolences to the families of the victims.

Shooting incidents like today's are rare in Thailand, even though the gun ownership rate is high compared to some other countries in the region, and there are many illegal weapons on the market. In 2020 a soldier, angered by the failure of a real estate deal, killed at least 29 people and injured 57 in an attack at four locations.

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