Videos posted on social media showed sheets covering what appeared to be the bodies of children lying in pools of blood in the garden of the childcare centre.
Reuters could not immediately authenticate the footage.
About 30 children were at the facility when the attacker arrived, fewer than usual, as heavy rain had kept many people away, district official Jidapa Boonsom, who was working in a nearby office at the time.
“The shooter came in around lunch time and shot four or five officials at the childcare centre first,” Jidapa told Reuters.
At first people thought the shots were fireworks, she said.
“It’s really shocking. We were very scared and running to hide once we knew it was shooting. So many children got killed, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
The attacker forced his way into a locked room where the children were sleeping, Jidapa said. She said she thought he killed children there with a knife, adding that a teacher who was eight months pregnant was also stabbed to death.
Source: CNA
