• Source:JND
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Gunmen stormed a school in Thailand’s southern province of Songkhla on Wednesday evening, opening fire and taking an unknown number of teachers and students hostage in a shocking attack that triggered a massive security response.  The Mae Taptim Yala Foundation reported on its Facebook page at 4.59 pm that Patong Prathan Khiriwat School in tambon Patong, Hat Yai district, had been attacked by armed men. According to the foundation, a teacher was shot and rushed to the hospital, while police were immediately dispatched to surround the campus.

Police said the gunmen entered the school just as classes were about to end for the day, causing panic among pupils and staff. Officers confirmed that several teachers and students were being held hostage inside the building, while many frightened children remained trapped.

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Special Forces Deployed

Hat Yai police assembled a special forces unit to cordon off the school and bring the situation under control. Rescue teams were deployed to evacuate as many students and staff as possible. Authorities said they were coordinating with district, tambon and village chiefs in an effort to negotiate with the suspect.

Gunman who fired shots at a school in the Hat Yai district in southern Thailand on Wednesday has been detained, and all the people who were held hostage have been freed, a police official told Reuters. An 18-year-old man entered the Patongprathankiriwat School in Songkhla Province's Hat Yai earlier on Wednesday with a gun, the provincial administration said on social media.

A security guard who managed to escape said the gunman shot the headmaster and that a bullet grazed his own stomach. “I escaped. The school director was shot. There were still children inside who were taken hostage,” he said. 

Police believe the shooter is 18 years old. Officers in Thung Lung district had earlier received reports that the suspect was behaving erratically and threatening to harm his mother at a nearby house. When police arrived, he allegedly entered the school carrying an M4-style firearm and opened fire.

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