Grieving parents go home with lost kids' toys and blankets

Families yesterday knelt outside a Thai nursery where their children were murdered, performing Buddhist rites to put their souls at rest.

Sacked police officer Panya Khamrab killed 36 people - 24 of them children - on Thursday in a gun and knife rampage in northeastern Nong Bua Lam Phu province in one of the kingdom's worst-ever mass killings.

Monks led prayers for the dead on a second day of ritual mourning at a temple near the nursery in Na Klang district, a farming area torn apart by the bloodshed.

Earlier, families wept as they knelt outside the nursery in a ceremony to help release their children's souls. Some clutched portraits, toys and favorite food, which they placed outside the compound as offerings.

Outside the single-story, pink-roofed nursery where youngsters had played happily piles of flowers built up.

Incense scented the air as the crowd, including many mourners from the close-knit community, bowed their heads in prayer, a low crackle of thunder echoing in the distance.

Officials carried children's treasured possessions out of the nursery to return to families - favorite blankets, much-loved toys, each in name-tagged bags.

The carnage began when the 34-year-old attacker forced his way in during the children's nap time at about 12:30 pm on Thursday, opening fire with his legally owned 9mm pistol and slashing with a knife. Then he went home to murder his wife and son before taking his own life.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE