Following this action, the attacker went home and killed his wife and child before committing suicide, bringing the total death toll to 38, according to the Thai media Thairath.

The deputy director of the National Police, Pol Gen Torsak Sukwimol, put the number of injured at 15, eight of them seriously.

According to the Bangkok Post, the individual, identified as Pol Panya, may have committed the crime in retaliation for his expulsion from the Police Force in June this year, after being arrested and confessing his involvement in a drug trafficking case.

He was scheduled to testify in the case this Friday, reports the Thai newspaper.

The country’s prime minister, Prayut Chan-ocha, expressed his condolences to the families and ordered an urgent investigation into the incident, which he described as ‘shocking’.

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