Malaysian police have shot a man who took 30 pre-school children and four teachers hostage at a kindergarten, ending a dramatic seven-hour standoff.
Authorities in the town of Muar in the southern state of Johor say all the children and their teachers were rescued unharmed on Thursday.
They say a sharpshooter shot the man, who was armed with a machete and hammer, in the head. He is in a critical condition.
Police took action after numerous attempts to secure a surrender - from police negotiators, a local psychiatrist and desperate family members - all failed, AFP reports.
Muar was also the scene in of another kindergarten siege when a man armed with a hammer barged into a school and seriously injured three young children in March last year.
