INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Thirty-four people were killed in Thailand on Thursday in a gun and knife attack at a daycare centre by a former policeman who killed his
wife and child before turning his weapon on himself, police said.There were 22 children among the victims of the suspected attacker, who had
been discharged from the service last year for drug-related reasons, district police official Chakkraphat Wichitvaidya told media.He cited
witnesses as saying the gunman was also seen wielding a knife.About 30 children were at the centre when the gunman arrived, fewer than
usual, as heavy rain had kept many people away, district official Jidapa Boonsom, who was working in a nearby office at the time, told
locked room where children were sleeping, Jidapa said, to kill children there with a knife.Videos posted on social media showed sheets
covering what appeared to be the bodies of children lying in pools of blood at the centre in the town of Uthai Sawan, 500 km (310 miles)
northeast of Bangkok in the province of Nong Bua Lamphu.Earlier, police said a manhunt was underway for the shooter, and a government
spokesman said the prime minister had alerted all agencies to catch the culprit.Mass shootings are rare in Thailand, even though the rate of
gun ownership is high compared with some other countries in the region, and illegal weapons are common.In 2020, a soldier angry over a
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://adaderana.lk
