Deccan Chronicle

Thai soldier went on shooting spree over debt dispute; toll 30

-

Nakhon Ratchasima (Thailand), Feb. 9: A Thai soldier who killed at least 30 people before being shot dead in a mall by commandos went on the rampage because of a debt dispute, the kingdom’s premier said on Sunday, offering the first official speculatio­n for the motive of an “unpreceden­ted” shooting spree.

After a night which seesawed between heavy exchanges of gunfire and terrifying dashes for mall exits by trapped shoppers, sharp-shooters brought an end to the 17-hour-ordeal when they killed the gunman on Sunday morning in Nakhon Ratchasima, also known as Korat.

Twenty-six people including civilians - the youngest a 13-year-old boy - and security forces were killed by the rogue soldier, Thailand’s prime minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha said. “It is unpreceden­ted in Thailand, and I want this to be the last time this crisis happens,” he said outside a hospital where victims, including at least two undergoing brain surgery, were being treated.

Prayut, a gruff former army chief, blamed a “personal problem” over the sale of the house for the soldier’s rampage, which began on Saturday afternoon

near an army barracks and was for several hours relayed by the gunman via Facebook posts.

The attacker, a junior army officer identified as Sergeant-Major Jakrapanth Thomma, used a stolen M60 machine gun, rifles and ammunition from one of Thailand’s largest barracks as well as a military humvee to carry out the attack.

Prayut said he overpowere­d security at the barracks’ arsenal.

Most of the dead were killed in and around the mall. Volleys of gunfire rang out as the siege ran into dawn, hours after

Thai security services stormed the ground floor and freed scores of stunned, terrified shoppers from a bloody rampage.

 ?? — AP ?? Armed soldiers carry a person out of Terminal 21 Korat mall in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, Sunday
— AP Armed soldiers carry a person out of Terminal 21 Korat mall in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, Sunday

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from India