A former policeman killed at least 37 people, mostly children, in a gun and knife attack at a childcare center in northeastern Thailand.
Police say he killed himself and his family after being searched after the attack in Nong Bua Lamphu province.
Children and adults were among those killed at the nursery – police say the attacker stabbed most of his victims before fleeing the scene.
The former officer, who was 34 years old, was fired in June for drug use, police said.
It is not clear if there was a motive for the attack.
At least 23 children were among the dead in the mass killings in Athai Sawan town. Some victims as young as two were attacked while they were sleeping.
A dozen injured people have been taken to Nong Bua Lamphu District Hospital.
Head teacher Nanticha Pancham said the attacker’s son went to the center but had not been there for a month.
She said the man used to drop off his child, and was always polite and communicative.
Ms. Pancham said the school normally had more than 90 children, but only more than 20 children were present on Thursday due to bad weather and a breakdown of the school bus.
“The shooter came at lunchtime and first shot four or five staff at the childcare center,” Jadappa Bonsom, a local official who works nearby, told News agency. One of them was a teacher who was eight months pregnant.
“At first people thought it was fireworks,” he said, adding that the man then forced his way into a locked room where the children were sleeping.
Videos shared on social media showed the parents and relatives of the deceased in tears and suffering as they gathered in a shelter outside the center.
Police officers who arrived after the attack were confronted with gruesome scenes, bodies of adults and children, some very young, lying inside and outside the building.
Police Chief Damrongsak Kati Prapat said, “After inspecting the scene, we found that the perpetrator tried to break in and he committed the crime by killing several young children primarily using a knife. Done.”
“He then went out and started killing whoever he met on the way with a gun or a knife until he reached home. We surrounded the house and found that he had committed suicide in his house. “
Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha called the incident “a shocking incident”.
