Thai military kill soldier who shot dead at least 26 people

NAKHON RATCHASIMA: A Thai soldier who opened fire in a shopping mall in the northeastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima was shot and killed by Thai security forces on Sunday. 

At least 26 people were killed and dozens injured when — 32-year-old  junior army officer identified as Sergeant-Major Jakrapanth Thomma opened fire on Saturday night. 

The killings began at around 3pm (0800 GMT) on Saturday when the soldier opened fire in a house before moving to an army camp and then to the mall, posting messages on Facebook as he went.

Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul confirmed the soldier had been shot dead at the Terminal 21 mall in the city of Nakhon Ratchasima.

“Thank you police and army for ending the situation. Shooter shot dead!!!” Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said in a post on Facebook. Police and the army also said he had been killed.

Thai media said the suspected shooter had worked at an army base close to Nakhon Ratchasima, which is about 250 km (155 miles) from the capital Bangkok. Before the attack, Jakrapanth had posted on his Facebook account that he was out for vengeance — but he did not say for what.

‘No one can escape death’: Thai soldier kills 17 in mass shooting

27 dead after 'unprecedented' mass shooting: Thai PM

The soldier who gunned down 26 people before being shot dead by commandos in northeastern Thailand did it over a "personal problem", Thai premier Prayut Chan-O-Cha said Sunday.

"It is unprecedented in Thailand, and I want this to be the last time this crisis happens," he said outside a hospital where victims were sent after they were evacuated from the shopping mall where the 17-hour rampage took place.

Prayut added that the gunman's motive was linked to the sale of a house.

‘It appears he went mad’

“We don’t know why he did this. It appears he went mad,” Defense Ministry spokesman Kongcheep Tantrawanit told Reuters.

Overnight, soldiers and police stormed into the mall and escorted hundreds of trapped people to safety.

“It was frightening because I could hear the occasional gunshot...we waited a long time for the police to come and help us, many hours,” said Suvanarat Jirattanasakul, 27, her voice trembling after she emerged.

The mall was busy with shoppers on a long weekend for the Buddhist Makha Bucha holiday.

CCTV footage from inside the mall posted on social media showed the gunman dressed in black and wearing a mask, his gun slung over his shoulder with no sign of other people around.

Facebook said it had removed the suspect’s account.

“There is no place on Facebook for people who commit this kind of atrocity, nor do we allow people to praise or support this attack,” a Facebook representative said in a statement.

Major shootings are rare in the Southeast Asian country other than in the far south, where a decades-old insurgency persists.