Gunman murders at least 37 in Thai nursery attack

A former Thai police officer armed with a gun and a knife killed at least 37 people in northeast Thailand, most of them children at a nursery, in one of the kingdom's deadliest mass killings.

Following the attack, gunman Panya Khamrab went home and killed his wife and child before taking his own life, police said.

Armed with a shotgun, pistol and knife, Panya opened fire on the childcare centre in northeastern Nong Bua Lam Phu province, at about 12:30 pm.

National Police Chief Damrongsak Kittiprapat told a news conference the gunman had killed 37 people, including 23 children and his own family, and wounded 12 others.

Nanthicha Punchum, acting chief of the nursery, described harrowing scenes as the attacker barged into the building in rural Uthai Sawan district.

"There were some staff eating lunch outside the nursery and the attacker parked his car and shot four of them dead," she said.

"The shooter smashed down the door with his leg and then came inside and started slashing the children's heads with a knife."

The 34-year-old gunman was a former police sergeant suspended in January and sacked in June for drug use, Damrongsak told reporters.

"As far as I know he was due in court tomorrow for a drug-related trial," he said.

He said the attacker was in a manic state but it was unknown whether it was drug-related.

Thailand forms part of Southeast Asia's so-called Golden Triangle, which has long been an infamous hotspot for the trafficking and abuse of drugs.