Police armed attack drill sends temple monks fleeing

Young monks flee Wat Burapha, unaware it was only a simulated attack by an armed intruder, part of a police training exercise. (Photos: Prasit Tungprasert)

NAKHON RATCHASIMA - Monks and novices fled from a temple in terror and hundreds of children were hurriedly evacuated from a kindergarten as police staged an unannounced emergency response drill simulating an armed intruder on Monday.

The exercise employed a realistic scenario, with officers and civilians at the locations not initially informed that it was a drill. Events unfolded as they would in a real emergency, beginning with a report of a masked man carrying a long-barrelled gun entering Wat Burapha.