By HAMDAN RAJA ABDULLAH, NELSON BENJAMIN and DESIREE TRESA GASPER

JOHOR BARU - The police have identified the "hammer man" who brutally bludgeoned three kindergarten pupils at Tadika Sinario in Muar and will be releasing a photo fit of the suspect soon.

Johor police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Mohd Mokhtar Mohd Shariff said that police had identified the man through CCTV recordings they obtained from a resident along Jalan Ali.

"We will send the image of the hammer-wielding man to the forensics department in Kuala Lumpur as the captured image is not sharp. We have also managed to get a picture of the man on a motorcycle captured on a resident's CCTV camera.

"We can see the man and the type of motorcycle but the picture is not clear," he said at the Muar police station yesterday.

He added that he did not want the blurred picture to be published now as it could jeopardise investigations.

Stating that hundreds of police personnel have been deployed in Muar to help in the manhunt, DCP Mohd Mokhtar added that policemen would patrol all kindergartens to avoid a repeat of the incident. He assured that the incident was an isolated case.

"Our priority right now is to find the man as soon as possible as we believe he is of unsound mind," he said. On Wednesday morning, a man wearing a full-faced helmet climbed over the walled fence of Tadika Sinario in Jalan Abdul Rahman here, kicked open the door to a classroom and attacked the children there with a hammer.

While two of the victims Vincent Tee Hui Sheang and Alex Tan Jia Yee, both six, were discharged yesterday from the Sultanah Aminah Hospital here, the third victim Nur Nadrah Nabilah Mohd Yusri, also six, is still at the hospital.

The three victims had also undergone counselling at the hospital to cope with their traumatic ordeal.

Nur Nadrah Nabilah's mother Farah Asyikin Abu Samah said the counselling was good as she could see an improvement in her child.

"By afternoon, my daughter was taking to the nurses. Previously she spoke only to me," she said, adding that the girl was easily frightened and did not eat well and that her legs were still weak.

Vincent's mother Ng Wee Siang said her son was excited when he was discharged and wanted to go home to watch his favourite television programmes and to sleep in his room.

Johor Sultan's consort Raja Zarith Sofiah Sultan Idris Shah also visited the three children and gave them hampers and goodie bags at the hospital yesterday.