34, including 22 children, dead in shooting at daycare centre in Thailand

BANGKOK: At least 34 people were killed in a mass shooting at a nursery in northeast Thailand, local media reported on Thursday. Among those killed in the shooting in Na Klang district in the country’s Nong Bua Lamphu province were 22 children.

Police said that the gunman identified as 34-year-old former policeman Panya Khamrab, shot himself after the attack.

The mass shooting took place Thursday at the Child Development Center in Uthaisawan Na Klang district, Nong Bua Lamphu province, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s office as reported by CNN. “The Prime Minister has expressed his condolences on the shooting incident,” the statement read.

Earlier, the PM’s office had urged all the securities officials to catch the culprit.

Gun ownership in Thailand is relatively high compared with other countries in Southeast Asia. Mass shootings in the country are rare, but in 2020 also, an incident saw a soldier killing 29 people in a shooting spree that began at a military site and then sent shoppers hunting for cover after the gunman entered a mall, reported CNN. (ANI)