A soldier has killed 20 people and injured many more in a mass shooting in the north-eastern Thai city of Nakhon Ratchasima.

The soldier, who livestreamed the shooting on social media, is holed up in a shopping mall, police have said.

The gunman appeared to be armed with an assault rifle, based on security camera video aired on Thai Rath television.

He opened fire at different  locations in the city which is more than 155 miles away from Bangkok.

The soldier reportedly attacked his commanding officer before stealing a gun, ammunition and an army vehicle from a military camp.

A police officer in the city of Nakhon Ratchasima said the soldier initially shot dead another soldier and a woman and wounded a third person, apparently over a land dispute.

The incident began at about 3.30pm on Saturday and appeared to be unresolved five hours later.

City and neighbourhood police officers said the man took a gun from his base and drove to the Terminal 21 mall, shooting along the way. 

Video taken outside the mall and shared on social media showed people taking cover in a car park as gunshots were fired.

The mall was shut down and the street outside was closed while authorities tried to arrest the gunman and rescue shoppers.

Defence Ministry spokesman Lieutenant General Kongcheep Tantrawanich identified the suspect as Sergeant Jakrapanth Thomma.

He said police and military units had locked down the mall and the surrounding area.

The suspect posted messages on his Facebook page during the rampage, including “No one can escape death” and “Should I give up?”. In a later post, he wrote: “I have stopped already.”

In one photo on the page, he is shown wearing a green camouflaged military helmet while a fireball and black smoke rage behind him.

The Terminal 21 shopping mall is on a major road near the centre of the city, which is a hub for Thailand’s relatively poorer and rural north-eastern region.

The incident came a month after another high-profile mall shooting, in the central city of Lopburi. In that case, a masked gunman carrying a handgun with a silencer killed three people, including a two-year-old boy, and wounded four others as he robbed a jewellery store.

A school director was arrested less than two weeks later and reportedly confessed, saying he did not mean to shoot anyone.