After being killed in a manger, the king waited on the spot
The day after the massacre that killed 37 people, mostly children in nurseries, small coffins arrived overnight at a hospital mortuary in northern Thailand.
King Maha Vajiralongkorn is expected at the site.
AFP
King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha are due to visit Nong Pua Lambu province (north) during the day, a symbol of meditation in the country, where flags are at half-mast in front of government buildings.
A former policeman armed with a 9mm pistol and a long knife killed 37 people, including 23 children, during a killing spree that began around 12:30pm (08:30 in Switzerland) at a daycare center in Nha Klang district on Thursday. “He broke the front door with his foot and he came in and started cutting the children’s heads off with a knife,” Nandicha Panchum, director of the nursery, told AFP.
The attacker then took to the road and tried to run down passers-by until he arrived at his home, “not far” from the daycare, police said. He then killed his wife and their little boy, before killing himself just before 3:00 p.m., two hours after the killing began. There was “blood everywhere” on the road, AFP said, adding that one witness, Pavina Burichan, 31, was riding her motorbike towards her shop when she saw the killer appear, “trying to hit people”.
During the night, small white and purple coffins were taken to a hospital mortuary in the neighboring province of Udon Thani.
Drug problems
After this “terrible” massacre, Prayut Chan-o-cha ordered an investigation and asked the police chief to “expedite investigations”. The first elements paint a portrait of the 34-year-old attacker, suffering from a drug addiction that cost him his job with the police last June.
“He was due to be questioned on Friday over his drug problem,” National Police Chief Damrongchak Kitiprabat said on Thursday. “What happened today (Thursday) should be a lesson so that it does not happen again in the future,” he stressed.
“I am deeply saddened by the hateful shooting at a nursery in Thailand. These places must be places where children are safe and never targeted,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres responded on Twitter.
This is not the first time Thailand has been massacred on this scale. In February 2020, 29 people were killed in a shooting by a military officer, specifically at a commercial center in Nakhon Ratchasima (East). The shooter, a 31-year-old chief warrant officer, was shot and killed by law enforcement after his nearly 17-hour killing spree. He acted after an argument with his superior.
The Na Klang drama is a reminder of the extent of the drug problem in the kingdom, where wholesale and retail prices are at historically low levels due to supply, according to data released by the UN in 2021. The rural province of Nong Phua Lambu is located near the “Golden Triangle” on the border of Burma and Laos, which for decades has been considered the focal point of drug production in the region.
AFP
Did you find an error?Please let us know.
“Avid gamer. Social media geek. Proud troublemaker. Thinker. Travel fan. Problem solver.”