Sittipong Taothawong comforts his wife Kanjana Buakumchan as she holds their child's milk bottle and blanket while standing outside the nursery in Thailand's northeastern Nong Bua Lam Phu province on Oct 7, 2022.Photo: AFP
A woman prays while offering a white rose on the steps of the nursery where a former police officer killed at least 37 people in a mass shooting in Thailand's northeastern Nong Bua Lam Phu province on Oct 7, 2022. Photos: AFP
A woman prays while offering a white rose on the steps of the nursery where a former police officer killed at least 37 people in a mass shooting in Thailand's northeastern Nong Bua Lam Phu province on Oct 7, 2022. Photo: AFP
Women prepare to place a white rose on the steps of a nursery in Thailand's north-eastern Nong Bua Lam Phu province on Oct 7, 2022, a day after at least 36 people were killed there in a mass shooting. Photo: AFP
The mother of a victim cries outside a nursery in Thailand's north-eastern Nong Bua Lam Phu province on Oct 7, 2022, a day after at least 36 people were killed there in a mass shooting. Photos: AFP
The mother of a victim cries outside a nursery in Thailand's north-eastern Nong Bua Lam Phu province on Oct 7, 2022, a day after at least 36 people were killed there in a mass shooting. Photo: AFP
Relatives gather outside a nursery in Thailand's north-eastern Nong Bua Lam Phu province on Oct 7, 2022, a day after at least 36 people were killed there in a mass shooting. Photo: AFP
The relative of a victim is comforted outside the nursery where a former police officer killed at least 37 people in a mass shooting in Thailand's northeastern Nong Bua Lam Phu province on Oct 7, 2022.
Bouquets of flowers are placed against a gate leading to the nursery where a mass shooting by a former police officer took place in Thailand's northeastern Nong Bua Lam Phu province on Oct 7, 2022.
A flag is seen at half mast as Thai officers lay flowers in mourning after a mass shooting by a former policeman at a nursery in Thailand's northeastern Nong Bua Lam Phu province on Oct 7, 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE
A royal wreath is displayed at the front of the nursery where a former police officer killed at least 37 people in a mass shooting in Thailand's northeastern Nong Bua Lam Phu province on Oct 7, 2022. Photo: AFP
A Thai officer lays a wreath of flowers from the royal family to mourn for the deceased at a nursery in Nong Bua Lamphu province, northeastern Thailand, Oct 7, 2022. Photo: AFP
Thailand's prime minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha arrives to meet relatives gathered outside the nursery where a former police officer killed at least 37 people in a mass shooting in Thailand's northeastern Nong Bua Lam Phu province on Oct 7, 2022. Photo: AFP
Thailand's prime minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha holds a bouquet of flowers as he stands outside the nursery where a mass shooting by a former police officer took place in Thailand's northeastern Nong Bua Lam Phu province on Oct 7, 2022. Photo: AFP
Thailand's Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha comforts families and relatives of victims gathered near a nursery in north-eastern Nong Bua Lam Phu province on Oct 7, 2022, a day after at least 36 people were killed there in a mass shooting. Photo: AFP
Thailand's Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha gives a cheque to families of victims gathered outside a nursery in north-eastern Nong Bua Lam Phu province on Oct 7, 2022, a day after at least 36 people were killed there in a mass shooting. Photo: AFP
Women hold white roses to place on the steps of the nursery where a former police officer killed at least 37 people in a mass shooting in Thailand's northeastern Nong Bua Lam Phu province on Oct 7, 2022. Photo: AFP
Bouquets of flowers are placed outside a nursery in Thailand's north-eastern Nong Bua Lam Phu province on Oct 7, 2022, a day after a former policeman murdered two dozen children there in one of the kingdom's worst mass killings. Photo: AFP
Rescue workers arrange coffins containing the body of victims at Song Serm Tham Foundation after a transfer from Udon Thani hospital in Udon Thani province on Oct 7, 2022. Photo: Reuters
Portraits of young victims of a mass shooting at a nursery in Thailand's north-eastern Nong Bua Lam Phu province are displayed atop their coffins as funeral preparations get under way at Wat Si Uthai temple on Oct 7, 2022. Photo: AFP
Officials prepare a red carpet at a nursery in Thailand’s north-eastern Nong Bua Lam Phu province on Oct 7, 2022, ahead of the arrival of King Maha Vajiralongkorn. The Thai king will visit survivors of a gun and knife attack at the nursery that left at least 36 people dead, most of them young children. Photo: AFP
Workers set up a portrait of Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida at a hospital in Nong Bua Lam Phu province on Oct 7, 2022, ahead of their visit. Photo: AFP
People wait on Oct 7, 2022, ahead of the arrival of Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn at a hospital where injured survivors were taken after a mass shooting at a nursery in north-eastern Nong Bua Lam Phu province. Photo: AFP
My deepest condolences to all the bereaved families of the victims, may God comfort you in this time of sorrow.
Fancy knifing and shooting innocent toddlers, not to mention a pregnant woman - the motherfucker who did all these will surely burn in hell forever and ever and EVER.
Thailand attack: ‘I am full of pain and anger'
Duangphan Patphaothanun is wandering outside a childcare centre, clutching a bag full of 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.
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.
A former policeman had stormed the building, killing children as young as two while they slept, leaving at least 37 people dead.
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.
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.
The motive for the attack is not yet known. But police said Kamrab was fired from his job in June for drug use.
"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.
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.
Duangphan was one of several grieving relatives who had gathered outside the centre in Nong Bua Lamphua province on Friday morning.
Another grandmother, 46-year-old Nipha Lawongsechaison, says she lost both a grandson and granddaughter in the attack.
"I am full of such pain... [and] anger because I cannot do anything," she says.
She's not the only one. Others too say they are filled with grief - and unanswered questions.
"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.
Among the mourners was Komsan Norraburh. His ex-wife married the attacker who killed both her and Norraburh's three-year-old son, Worraphat.
"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."
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.
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.
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.
Officers who rushed to the nursery were confronted with the bodies of adults and children, lying inside and outside the building.
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.
Mass shootings in Thailand are rare, although gun ownership rates are relatively high for the region.
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.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63168077
Utterly heartbreaking on so many levels, may the souls of those who lost their lives in this senseless slaughter rest in peace.
So many coffins being prepared for the slain little children, really sibei tragic