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Thailand attack: Country mourns after 37 killed, mostly children Thailand attack: ‘I am full of pain and anger'
(32 minutes later)
The mother of a victim standing outside the daycare centre on Friday Pattarawut was one of 23 children killed on Thursday
Thailand is mourning a gun and knife attack at a childcare centre where a man killed children as young as two while they slept. Duangphan Patphaothanun is wandering outside a childcare centre, clutching a bag full of toys.
Parents gathered outside the centre on Friday morning, weeping and clutching their children's favourite toys. The 64-year-old grandmother wants to know when she can see her grandson, so she can place his most treasured possessions with him in his coffin - the bag includes a large plastic dinosaur.
The attack on Thursday left 37 people, including 23 children dead. The perpetrator was an ex-policeman. Three-year-old Pattarawut is among the 23 children who died on Thursday in a gun and knife attack at a childcare centre in Thailand's north-east.
Flags across Thailand are flying at half-mast as the country grapples with the tragedy. A former policeman had stormed the building, killing children as young as two while they slept, leaving at least 37 people dead.
Police say the 34-year-old attacker killed himself and his family after a manhunt. The motive for the attack is not yet known. But police said the attacker was fired from his job in June for drug use. More than 90 children usually attend the centre but because of poor weather and a bus breakdown only 24 of them were there on Thursday. Only one child has survived.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, and Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn, together with the Queen, are expected to visit the community in Nong Bua Lamphu province later on Friday. Police say the 34-year-old attacker - a local named Panya Kamrab - killed his wife and his step-son, before killing himself after a manhunt. His step-son used to attend the centre but hadn't been for the past month.
Rescue personnel count coffins carrying victims bodies at the hospital morgue in Udon Thani The motive for the attack is not yet known. But police said Kamrab was fired from his job in June for drug use.
Overnight, pink and white coffins adorned with gold, bearing the bodies of the children, were brought to a hospital morgue in Udon Thani and laid out in rows. "When I heard the news about the shooting, I just fainted," Duangphan said. On her phone are photos of Pattarawut, taken just hours before the shooting.
Rescue workers had earlier brought the victims' bodies to the police station, where families of the dead had gathered. Distraught relatives had also waited outside the daycare centre well into the night. Like many childcare centres, this one too regularly posts photo updates for parents to see - the images show happy, smiling faces, writing or finishing a drawing.
'I don't know what to do next' Duangphan was one of several grieving relatives who had gathered outside the centre in Nong Bua Lamphua province on Friday morning.
Police said the armed attacker broke into the building just after lunch time on Thursday, shooting his way past a teacher and parent outside. Captain was just shy of his third birthday
Witnesses said he first shot staff - including a teacher who was eight-months pregnant- before forcing his way past teachers into a room where children were napping. Another grandmother, 46-year-old Nipha Lawongsechaison, says she lost both a grandson and granddaughter in the attack.
Police said he stabbed most of his victims before fleeing. "I am full of such pain... [and] anger because I cannot do anything," she says.
Headteacher Nanticha Panchum told the BBC she had just sent the children off for their nap when she heard gunshots. She's not the only one. Others too say they are filled with grief - and unanswered questions.
Usually the centre looked after 92 children on site but because of poor weather and a bus breakdown, there were only 24 there at the time. "Why did he take it [out] on the children? Why kill them when they did nothing to him?" says 27-year-old Naliwan Dungkhet, whose two-year-old nephew Captain also died in the attack. He was just a month away from his third birthday.
Only one child survived, Ms Nanticha said.
'It's shocking' - witnesses describe nursery attack horror'It's shocking' - witnesses describe nursery attack horror
Thai pre-school attack: What we knowThai pre-school attack: What we know
"This is something I never dreamed of… I don't know what to do next. I really can't think of anything at the moment," she told the BBC. Among the mourners was Komsan Norraburh. His ex-wife married the attacker who killed both her and Norraburh's three-year-old son, Worraphat.
The attacker's son went to the centre but hadn't been attending for a month, she said. He was recognised by one of her colleagues when he burst in. "I was at the factory [when] my friend asked me to check the news. I called my ex-wife and son to see if they were ok but no-one answered," he said. "He was a good boy who liked to talk a lot. I'm waiting to pick up his body and see his face one last time."
Soon after news of the attack emerged, Thai Police published an online manhunt appeal - identifying the man as Panya Kamrab, a local man. He was a former officer who had been fired in June for drug use, police later said. Many of the relatives said they had waited outside the childcare centre well into the night on Thursday, while others gathered at the police station.
They would eventually be greeted by the sight of pink and white coffins adorned with gold, bearing the bodies of the children, which were brought to a hospital morgue in Udon Thani and laid out in rows.
The daycare centre on Friday morningThe daycare centre on Friday morning
Officers who rushed to the nursery were confronted with the bodies of adults and children, some of them very young, lying inside and outside the building. Police said the armed attacker broke into the building just after lunch time on Thursday, shooting his way past a teacher and parent outside. He was recognised by one of the teachers when he burst in.
"We found that the perpetrator tried to break in and he mainly used a knife to commit the crime by killing a number of small children," said Police Chief Damrongsak Kittiprapat. Witnesses said he first shot staff - including a teacher who was eight months pregnant- before forcing his way past teachers into a room where children were napping. He then stabbed most of his victims before fleeing.
"Then he got out and started killing anyone he met along the way with a gun or the knife until he got home. Officers who rushed to the nursery were confronted with the bodies of adults and children, lying inside and outside the building.
"We surrounded the house and then found that he committed suicide in his home." Kamrab had appeared in court the morning of the attack on charges related to the use and possible sale of methamphetamine. He had been due to face a verdict on Friday.
Police said Kamrab returned home, killing his wife and son before taking his own life. Mass shootings in Thailand are rare, although gun ownership rates are relatively high for the region.
He had appeared in court the morning of the attack on charges related to the use and possible sale of methamphetamine. He had been due to face a verdict on Friday. In 2020 a soldier killed 29 people and injured dozens more in the city of Nakhon Ratchasima. Thursday's attack comes less than a month after an army officer shot dead two of his colleagues at a base in Bangkok.
Mass shootings in Thailand are rare, although gun ownership rates are relatively high for the region. Illegal weapons are also common in the south-east Asian country, according to the Reuters news agency. Additional reporting by Suchada Phoisaat
The nursery attack comes less than a month after an army officer shot dead two of his colleagues at a base in Bangkok.
In 2020 a soldier killed 29 people and injured dozens more in the city of Nakhon Ratchasima.