Thailand shooting: Heartbreaking moment 24 kids massacred during their nursery nap time are carried away in tiny coffins

HEARTBREAKING photos show tiny coffins being loaded into a truck after a sacked cop broke into a nursery before stabbing and shooting 24 toddlers as they slept.

The maniac slaughtered 38 people in a shocking rampage at a daycare centre in Na Klang, Thailand, then shot his wife and son dead before turning the gun on himself.

Cops named the suspect as ex-police lieutenant colonel Panya Khamrab, who had been sacked from a nearby police station.

The gunman - armed with a shotgun, a 9mm pistol and a knife - forced his way into the nursery at about 12.30pm local time (5.30am GMT) and murdered kids one by one before fleeing the scene.

According to police, he became "agitated" when he could not find his son at the centre.

A teacher at the preschool told how the killer knifed tots with a blade and stabbed a member of staff who was six months pregnant to death.

It is understood 24 children aged two to three years old, two teachers and one police officer are among those killed in the deadliest mass shooting in the country's history.

The teacher, who climbed over a wall to escape the gunman, said: "I knew it was a gun because I heard multiple gunshots, and then I saw him put in the bullets and point the gun at me.

";I called the teacher, and the teacher was hugging the child. He kicked the mirror and I climbed the walls and asked for help.

"He was inside the child centre for a long time. He used a knife and cut all the kids' heads. He was carrying a small gun.

"I didn't know he was going to kill the kids. I thought he was going to come out but he stayed inside a long time. He used a knife and stabbed all the kids.

"He also stabbed a pregnant teacher. Only (a) few months til she gives birth. He stabbed my staff. That's all I know."

A witness said staff at the day care locked the door when they saw the assailant approaching with a gun, but he shot his way in.

According to cops, the killer drove back home following the horror attack in a white pickup truck which he torched before gunning down his wife and child and shooting himself.

About 30 children were at the centre when the gunman burst into a locked room where they were sleeping before brutally shooting and stabbing them.

He then continued the rampage outside, ramming his van into bystanders outside and shooting at them.

Shocking pictures show bodies covered in blankets scattered across the floor inside the nursery.

Distraught families were pictured weeping outside the nursery as ambulance dashed those injured to hospital.

Later, devastating photos showed rescue workers carrying tiny coffins with the toddlers killed inside.

Khamrab, 34, had been sacked from the force earlier this year for drug use, police colonel Jakkapat Vijitraithay said.

Police said was he due in court on Friday for a hearing on drug charges involving methamphetamine possession.

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha called the shooting a "shocking incident".

He said: "I would like to express my deepest condolences to the families of the lost and injured."

Chan-ocha also ordered all agencies to urgently treat those wounded. 

The rate of gun ownership in Thailand is high compared with some other countries in the region.

But official figures do not include huge numbers of illegal weapons, many of which have been brought in across porous borders over the years from strife-torn neighbours.

Mass shootings are rare but in 2020, a soldier angry over a property deal gone sour killed at least 29 people and wounded 57 in a rampage that spanned four locations.