Thailand attack: Country mourns after 37 killed, mostly children
Thailand is mourning a gun and knife attack at a childcare center where a man killed children as young as two while they slept.
Parents gathered outside the center on Friday morning, weeping and clutching their children’s favorite toys.
The attack on Thursday left 37 people, including 23 children dead. The perpetrator was an ex-policeman.
Flags across Thailand are flying at half-mast as the country grapples with the tragedy.
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.
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.
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.
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 center well into the night.
Agencies