Thai police arrest gunman after two injured in school siege

A girl is evacuated from the school where she had been hiding after a gunman entered and held teachers and students hostage

Police in Thailand have ended a siege in a school after a young man armed with a gun entered the building and fired shots, injuring at least two people.

The suspect, an 18-year-old man, entered Phatong Prathan Keeriwat School near the city of Hat Yai shortly before 17:00 local time (10:00 GMT) on Wednesday and opened fire, officials said.

At least two people were wounded in the incident.

The school principal was among the injured taken to hospital with a gun wound, authorities said. A female student was also shot, according to Thailand's Public Health Ministry, while another student was injured after jumping off the building in panic.

A number of students and teachers were trapped in the school as police units surrounded the building.

Police later confirmed that the suspect surrendered after a two-hour standoff and was taken into custody. Ambulances were seen leaving the scene shortly after the siege ended.

The motive for the attack remains unclear, although local media reports suggest the suspect may have had a grievance with a teacher at the school.

Levels of gun crime are relatively high in Thailand, where gun ownership, both legal and illegal, is widespread.

The country has seen several deadly incidents in recent years.

Last year, five people were killed in a shooting at a food market in Bangkok.

In 2023, a 14-year-old boy killed two people and injured five others in a shooting at a luxury shopping mall in the centre of Bangkok.

A year earlier a former police officer killed 36 people, most of them children, at a kindergarten in north-eastern Thailand, in one of the country's deadliest mass shootings.