Thailand mourns children, others slain by ex-police officer

UTHAI SAWAN, Thailand — Relatives grieving a staggering loss on Friday laid flowers at a day care center in rural northeastern Thailand where a fired police officer slaughtered dozens of people, including children as young as 2 who were napping.

The entire country reeled in the wake of Thursday's grisly attack in a small town nestled among rice paddies. At least 24 of the 36 people killed in the assault, Thailand's deadliest shooting rampage, were children.

"I cried until I had no more tears coming out of my eyes. They are running through my heart," said Seksan Sriraj, 28, who lost his pregnant wife due to give birth this month in the attack at the Young Children's Development Center in Uthai Sawan.

"My wife and my child have gone to a peaceful place. I am alive and will have to live. If I can't go on, my wife and my child will be worried about me, and they won't be reborn in the next life," he said.

Royal and government representatives in white uniforms laid wreaths at ceremonial tables in front of the center's main door on Friday morning, as a faded Thai flag flew at half-staff above. They were followed by weeping family members, who gathered their hands in prayer before placing white flowers on the wooden floor.

Later, villagers lined the roads of the town as a stream of ambulances brought the bodies back to the day care center so waiting relatives could claim them.

Prime Minster Prayuth Chan-ocha visited the day care center, and Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida were expected later in the day to go to hospitals, where seven of the 10 people who were wounded remain.

Police identified the attacker as Panya Kamrap, 34, a former police sergeant fired earlier this year because of a drug charge involving methamphetamine. He had been due to appear in court on Friday. An employee told a Thai TV station that Panya's son had attended the day care but hadn't been there for about a month.

When asked whether he thought the center was secure enough, Seksan noted the attacker had been a police officer. "He came to do what he had in his mind and was determined to do it. I think everyone did the best they could."

One of the youngest survivors is a 3-year-old boy who was riding a tricycle close to his mother and grandmother when the assailant began slashing them with a knife. The mother died from her wounds, and the boy and grandmother were being treated at hospitals.

Agencies Via Xinhua