Thailand attack: children killed in mass stabbing and shooting at preschool

Thirty-seven people have been killed, most of them young children, in an unprecedented gun and knife attack at a preschool centre in north-east Thailand that has horrified the country.

The attacker, a former police officer, opened fire as children were sleeping at the centre in Na Klang district in Nong Bua Lamphu province at about noon on Thursday, police and witnesses said.

Police said most of the children killed at the centre were stabbed to death. As he left the nursery the attacker drove his car towards and shot at bystanders then returned home, where he shot himself, his wife and his child.

Police identified the attacker as Panya Khamrab, a 34-year-old former police lieutenant colonel who had been dismissed from the force last year for methamphetamine possession and had appeared in court earlier on Thursday on a drugs charge.

Witnesses said he was in an agitated state when he arrived at the nursery.

Images from the scene showed a nursery schoolroom, its walls covered in alphabet letters and paintings of animals. The bodies of children lay on sleeping mats, with white sheets placed over them.

She said there were 24 children in the centre at the time. There were fewer children present than normal, it was reported, due to heavy rains that forced some to stay home.

A witness, Paweena Purichan, 31, told AFP that it was known locally that the attacker had drug addiction problems. She was riding her motorcycle to her shop when she saw him driving erratically.

Mass shootings in Thailand are rare, though in 2020 a soldier, angry at his superiors over a property deal, killed at least 29 people and wounded 57 after opening fire in four locations, including a busy shopping mall in north-east Thailand. The attack, and other recent reports of gun violence, prompted public debate over gun ownership rates in the country.

Possession of an illegal firearm can lead to a prison sentence of up to 10 years and/or a fine of up to 20,000 baht (£480), though unregistered guns remain prevalent due to poor enforcement.