Four children were stabbed to death on Thursday at a kindergarten in Uganda's capital, Kampala, police said.

The male suspect, in his thirties, gained access by posing as a parent before attacking children aged around two and three with a knife, police said.

"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," police spokeswoman Racheal Kawala told AFP.

The suspect fatally stabbed three boys and one girl among 14 children present at the compound, police said.

He had visited the nursery last week to seek admission for a child, paid the fees and was told to return this week, Kawala said.

Angry residents attempted to lynch the man as he tried to escape before security forces intervened by firing teargas to disperse the irate crowd and arresting him.

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

"Ten children survived the attack and are already with their parents," Kawala said.

The motive behind the killings remains unclear and police are investigating.

Such killings are rare in Uganda.

"We shall push for the death sentence for this criminal," Uganda's army chief Muhoozi Kainerugaba posted on X.

© Agence France-Presse