A man armed with a machete has killed four children at a nursery school in Kampala, Uganda, police have said.

The victims, three boys and one girl, were attacked on Thursday after the assailant entered Ggaba Early Childhood Development Programme School in Makindye Division.

Authorities have arrested a 34-year-old suspect. Police say investigations are ongoing, and the motive for the attack has not yet been established.

Videos of the aftermath being shared on social media show images of crowds of angry and distressed people, believed to be parents seeking news of their children.

Angry parents had tried to lynch him before he was detained, news agency AFP quotes police spokeswoman Racheal Kawala as saying.

The police urged for calm as investigations continue. Uganda’s Daily Monitor newspaper quoted residents as saying the suspect gained entry into the school by pretending to be a parent.

The children he killed were reportedly aged between two and three years old.