Thai father murders 4 children following spat with wife

Police negotiators laid siege to a house in the country's south Monday after a man allegedly shot dead four of his children following a dispute with his estranged wife.

The shocking spree is the latest murder rampage in a country where lovers' quarrels frequently escalate into fatal shootings, partly because of the easy availability of guns.

Police said the man barricaded himself inside his house in southern Trang province after murdering two sons and two daughters early on Monday morning.

"Police had to use a ladder into a bedroom to remove the bodies of the children," local police captain Wittawat Paiboon told AFP, adding that the man, who had locked himself in another room, had a long and troubled relationship with his estranged wife. 

"They were two boys and two girls. They had been deliberately killed," he said, adding that the victims ranged from six to 16 years old.