Weeping, grief-stricken families gathered yesterday outside a Thai nursery where an ex-policeman murdered two dozen children in one of the kingdom’s worst mass killings.
Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha were yesterday to visit survivors of the attack that left at least 37 people dead, including the attacker’s wife and child.
Around the small low-slung building, where only two days ago scores of preschool children played, officials in white uniforms laid a large floral wreath on behalf of the king.
Photo: AFP
A line of heartbroken parents placed white roses on the steps of the nursery as the baking sun bore down on them.
Buarai Tanontong’s two three-year-old grandsons were among those killed at the nursery when the attacker burst through the door.
“I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t think that it would be my two grandsons,” she said, clutching her inconsolable daughter’s shoulder.
Armed with a 9mm pistol and a knife, sacked police sergeant Panya Khamrab opened fire on the childcare center in the northeastern Nong Bua Lamphu Province at about 12:30pm on Thursday.
Following the attack, 34-year-old Panya fled the scene in a pickup truck, heading home to murder his wife and son before taking his own life, police said, ending the killing spree around 3:00pm.
He killed 24 children — 21 boys and three girls — and 13 adults. The dead include pregnant teacher Supaporn Pramongmuk, whose husband posted a poignant tribute on Facebook.
“I would like to thank all the support for me and my family. My wife has fulfilled her every duty as a teacher,” husband Seksan Srirach wrote. “Please be a teacher in heaven, and my child please take care of your mother in heaven.”
Flags on government buildings flew at half-mast yesterday to mark one of the deadliest days in recent Thai history.
A red carpet was installed around the nursery by officials before the royal wreath was laid. Social media users expressed criticism about the laying of a ceremonial carpet at a crime scene.
Acting head of the nursery Nanthicha Punchum described harrowing scenes as the attacker barged into the building.
“There were some staff eating lunch outside the nursery and the attacker parked his car and shot four of them dead,” she said.
She said the attacker smashed down the door with his leg and then started stabbing the children.
Thai media reported that one child survived because they were sleeping hidden by a blanket when the attacker struck.
Thai National Police Chief Damrongsak Kittiprapat told reporters that the attacker was suspended from the police force in January and dismissed in June for drug use.
He said Panya — who used a legally purchased pistol — had been due in court on a drugs charge, adding he was in a manic state, but it was unknown whether it was drug-related.
Prayuth has ordered a rapid probe into the attack, and yesterday police interviewed witnesses and families.
The attack came less than three years after a soldier gunned down 29 people in a 17-hour rampage and wounded scores more before he was shot dead by police.
Although Thailand has high rates of gun ownership, mass shootings such as Thursday’s are rare.
‘TERRORIST ATTACK’: The convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri resulted in the ‘martyrdom of five of our armed forces,’ the Presidential Leadership Council said A blast targeting the convoy of a Saudi Arabian-backed armed group killed five in Yemen’s southern city of Aden and injured the commander of the government-allied unit, officials said on Wednesday. “The treacherous terrorist attack targeting the convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri, commander of the Second Giants Brigade, resulted in the martyrdom of five of our armed forces heroes and the injury of three others,” Yemen’s Saudi Arabia-backed Presidential Leadership Council said in a statement published by Yemeni news agency Saba. A security source told reporters that a car bomb on the side of the road in the Ja’awla area in
‘SHOCK TACTIC’: The dismissal of Yang mirrors past cases such as Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle, who was executed after being accused of plotting to overthrow his nephew North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has fired his vice premier, compared him to a goat and railed against “incompetent” officials, state media reported yesterday, in a rare and very public broadside against apparatchiks at the opening of a critical factory. Vice Premier Yang Sung-ho was sacked “on the spot,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, in a speech in which Kim attacked “irresponsible, rude and incompetent leading officials.” “Please, comrade vice premier, resign by yourself when you can do it on your own before it is too late,” Kim reportedly said. “He is ineligible for an important duty. Put simply, it was
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday announced a deal with the chief of Kurdish-led forces that includes a ceasefire, after government troops advanced across Kurdish-held areas of the country’s north and east. Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said he had agreed to the deal to avoid a broader war. He made the decision after deadly clashes in the Syrian city of Raqa on Sunday between Kurdish-led forces and local fighters loyal to Damascus, and fighting this month between the Kurds and government forces. The agreement would also see the Kurdish administration and forces integrate into the state after months of stalled negotiations on
RSS