Police say he then killed himself and his family after a manhunt following the attack in Nong Bua Lamphu province.

Children and adults are among the casualties at the nursery – police say the attacker shot and stabbed his victims before fleeing the scene.

The shooter came in around lunchtime and shot four or five officials at the childcare centre first,” a local official Jidapa Boonsom, who was working nearby, told Reuters news agency. One of them was a teacher who was eight months pregnant,

“At first people thought it was fireworks,” she said, adding the gunman then forced entry to a locked room where children were sleeping.

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Reported by BBC news.