Asia | Tragedy after tragedy

After a mass killing, Thailand’s government declares war on drugs

The policy is unlikely to prevent another massacre

A girl looks at offerings outside the Wat Rat Samakee temple where coffins of victims are held, following a mass shooting in the town of Uthai Sawan, Nong Bua Lam Phu province, Thailand, October 8, 2022. REUTERS/Jorge Silva

Oct 13th 2022|SINGAPORE

Curled up asleep under a blanket in the corner of the nursery, a single toddler survived the horror. Nearly two dozen others did not. Panya Khamrab, a former police officer, hacked them to death with a machete on October 6th on his rampage through a child-care centre in Nong Bua Lam Phu in Thailand’s north-east. He also killed more than a dozen adults, some of them minders trying to protect the children. Then he went home, where he shot and killed his wife and her son before taking his own life.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “The madness after the massacre”