A soldier opened fire in a shopping center in Thailand: dozens of dead and wounded

A soldier in Thailand opened fire to kill residents of the city of Nakhon Ratchasima in the north-east of the country. At least 20 people were killed, local police said. At the moment, it is known about 31 wounded. The country's police are still continuing the operation to capture the suspect, who is in a shopping center, reports Air force.

Photo: Depositphoto

Jakrafant Tomma, a junior officer, first killed his commander and then stole weapons and ammunition at a military base. The Bangkok Post writes that a 63-year-old woman and another soldier were killed on the territory of the military camp. After that, Tomma got into a military jeep.

He started shooting at several targets in the city and arrived at Terminal 21 shopping center. From the shots shown by local media, the suspect exits the car and opens fire, while people try to escape. The video from the surveillance cameras shows how he walks around the mall with a raised rifle.

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Other shots show a fire near the building, which, according to unconfirmed reports, occurred after a shot at a canister of gasoline.

Earlier, the Bangkok Post reported that the attacker took hostages, but this data is not officially confirmed.

Operation in a shopping center

Security officers arrived at the scene. They entered the territory of the shopping center and rescued several hundred people, but the suspect has not yet been detained. It is reported that authorities took control of the first floor of the building. According to Reuters, shooting is periodically heard from the shopping center.

Car traffic in the area is completely blocked. Police warned locals not to leave home.

The suspect's mother arrived at the shopping center and is expected to help convince him to surrender.

One of the local residents told the BBC how she, along with a group of people, was hiding from the attacker in a toilet on the fourth floor of the building. Then she was able to get to the second floor and hid there under the table in the restaurant for three hours. After that, she heard several shots and saw the military, who helped her to get to a safe place.

The motives of the attacker remain unclear. But he made publications on his social networks during the attack, and also posted a post asking if he should give up.

Previously, he posted an image of a gun and bullets with the caption "Time to worry" and "No one can escape death." In one of the published photographs, the attacker stands in front of a fire. The man's Facebook account is now blocked.

In response to the attack, Facebook said: “Our hearts go out to the victims, their families and everyone affected by the tragedy in Thailand. There is no place on Facebook for people who commit such atrocious acts. And we will not allow anyone to support or approve of this attack."

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Thai Prime Minister Prayuta Chan-Ocha is following the events and has already expressed condolences to the families of the victims.

Minister of Health Anutin Charnvirakul called on local residents to donate blood for the victims.

He also said that there is no information on whether there are still dead and injured in the shopping center.

“At first, I saw a woman rushing out of the mall with a hysterical scream,” witness Nattaya Nganiye said in an interview with the Associated Press. “The motorcyclist, seeing her, just ran and even threw his motorcycle.”

This was the second mass shooting in the country in a month.

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