Thailand shooting: Daycare centre attack victims mourned

Portraits of victims at the top of their coffins for funeral rituals in Na Klang Friday. Pic/AFP

Thai government buildings flew flags at half mast on Friday to mourn the deaths of more than 30 people, including 23 children, after an ex-policeman burst into a daycare centre in a knife and gun rampage that left the nation shocked and seeking answers. Most of the children who died at the daycare centre in Uthai Sawan, on Thursday were stabbed, police said, marking one of the worst child death tolls in a massacre by a single killer in recent history.

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Police identified the attacker as a former member of the force who was discharged over drug allegations and who was facing trial on a drugs charge. After the attack, he went home and shot dead his wife and child before turning his weapon on himself. The age range of children at the daycare centre ranged from two to five years, a local official said. "It's a scene that nobody wants to see. From the first step when I went in, it felt harrowing," Piyalak Kingkaew, an emergency worker said. "We've been through it before, but this incident is most harrowing because they are little kids."

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