Four young children were stabbed to death at a daycare center in Uganda's capital, Kampala, on Thursday, local police have confirmed.

The toddlers, aged between two and three, were reportedly attacked by a male suspect who gained access to the kindergarten by posing as a parent.

According to local media, angry residents of the upmarket Ggaba district attempted to lynch the suspected assailant as he tried to escape before a security guard from a nearby church apprehended him.

When police and military personnel arrived on the scene, they fired warning shots into the air to disperse crowds before arresting the suspect.

"We confirm a tragic incident at the Ggaba Early Childhood Development Program school in Makindye Division, Kampala City, where a male suspect brutally stabbed and killed four juveniles," a police spokeswoman said, adding that the children had "died on the spot."

Uganda school stabbing: what do we know?

According to preliminary police investigations, the man had visited the kindergarten on two previous days and had attempted to enroll his own child.

He had reportedly been told to return on Thursday when he spoke to the daycare director and paid admission for his child before launching his stabbing spree.

"The motive behind the killings is still under investigation," said the police spokeswoman.

Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Abas Byakagaba attended the scene and called for calm. "We call upon anyone with information about the suspect to [contact] police and aid in investigations," he said.

Videos on social media showed distressed parents outside the cordoned-off nursery, anxiously seeking news of their children and demanding their release.

According to local media, 14 children were at the kindergarten at the time of the attack. Police said the bodies of the four victims had been taken to a mortuary and that the other ten children had been reunited with their parents.

Edited by: Saim Dušan Inayatullah