Atleast 34 people including 22 children were killed today after a man armed with a gun and a knife stormed a nursery in northern Thailand in Nong Bua Lamphu. The gunman was a former police officer and all agencies have now been alerted to take the required action.
“There are at least 34 dead but details were still coming in”, Deputy Police Spokesperson Archon Kraitong said. Chakkraphat Wichitvaidya, superintendent of Na Klang police station told that the gunman had been discharged from the police force last year.
Mass shootings are rare in Thailand although gun ownership rates are relatively high for the region. Illegal weapons are also common in the south-east Asian country. This nursery attack comes less than a month after an army officer shot dead two of his colleagues at a base in Bankok. In 2020 a soldier killed 29 people and injured dozens in Nakhon Ratchasima.