A gunman opened fire at a school in southern Thailand, injuring three before police shot and arrested him, highlighting the country’s ongoing struggle with gun violence.

HAT YAI: A gunman opened fire at a school in southern Thailand on Wednesday, injuring three people before police shot and arrested him.

The incident occurred at the Phatong Prathan Khiriwat School in Hat Yai, Songkhla province.

According to the Songkhla provincial government, the suspect entered the school “in an agitated state while carrying a gun”.

Shortly after he entered, “about two to three gunshots were heard”.

A woman and a 14-year-old girl were hospitalised with gunshot wounds and both underwent surgery, according to the ministry of public health.

A second child suffered an ankle injury after they “fell from a height” during the incident.

Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau initially stated the suspect had been killed but later corrected this, confirming he was shot and arrested by police.

A school administrator at the scene told AFP she was too scared to speak before hanging up.

The shooting underscores Thailand’s high rate of gun ownership, with an estimated 10 million firearms in circulation.

This equates to roughly one gun for every seven inhabitants in the country.

Past promises to tighten gun laws have failed to prevent repeated tragedies.

In 2023, a 14-year-old boy shot dead two people at a packed mall in Bangkok.

The previous year, an ex-policeman murdered 24 children and 12 adults at a nursery in one of Thailand’s deadliest massacres.

A former army officer also gunned down 29 people in a rampage at a mall in Nakhon Ratchasima in 2020.

 The Sun Malaysia