School shooting in Thailand

Thai ex-politician believed to have shot and killed civil servant

The former Thai parliamentarian Chalong Riewrang is suspected of having shot and killed a provincial civil servant and injured his driver, reports AFP.

After his arrest, Riewrang confessed to the shooting to the press.

– I did not intend to shoot, but his driver pulled a gun and pointed it at me, so I shot, he says.

He and the civil servant are said to have had a disagreement over a private loan and the dispute has been going on for several years.

Monday's shooting in Nonthaburi outside Bangkok comes just a few days after the country was shaken by a school shooting in the same province, where a teenage boy killed nine. The school shooting has opened up a debate about the country's relatively liberal gun laws.

Metal detectors meet students after school shooting

A debate about Thailand's gun laws has raged since Friday's school shooting outside Bangkok, where nine people were killed, Reuters reports.

When students returned after the weekend, metal detectors had been installed and general security around schools has been increased.

- We could never have imagined that something like this would happen in a school, which should be the safest place, says the regional school director.

Thailand has about ten million privately owned guns in circulation, which is a lot for Asia. While the debate is ongoing, a former member of parliament has been arrested on suspicion of shooting two people in the same province where Friday's school shooting occurred.