At least eight people – seven students and a teacher – have been killed in a shooting at a school in southwest Russia, with several others injured.
The RIA news agency said a blast was heard at the school in the city of Kazan, around 450 miles east of Moscow, and a teenage gunman has been arrested.
Footage posted on social media showed a large crowd outside the school after the premises had been evacuated, and emergency services including police and armed officers, as well as paramedics, at the scene.
Around 21 ambulances were sent to the site, with local officials also turning up, RIA added.
Interfax news agency cited a source as saying that there were two attackers and the second could still be in the building.
Reports of there being two perpetrators are unconfirmed.
Rustam Minnikhanov, head of the wider Tatarstan region of which Kazan is the capital, said there was no evidence that anyone else had been involved.
“We have lost seven children… four boys and three girls,” he said. “And 16 people, 12 children and four adults, are in hospital.”
His press service later said a teacher was also killed.
A witness told TASS news agency there was an explosion before the attack was carried out.
Some students were seen jumping out of the windows to escape the shooting, it reported.
Video taken inside the school showed corridors littered with debris, and damaged classrooms and toilet facilities – the doors of which looked as if they had been shattered in a blast.
According to health officials, 21 people were taken to hospital, including 18 children, with six in intensive care.
Authorities said additional security measures were immediately put into place in all schools in Kazan. They also announced a day of mourning on Wednesday to honour the victims of the shooting.
Sky’s Moscow correspondent Diana Magnay said there was video of the attacker being detained outside the school and “being pinned down”.
“We have just heard from the regional governor that he was 19 years old and licensed to carry a firearm.
“We have no idea of his motives yet. Clearly a horrific situation unfolding.”
She said there was footage of video inside the premises showing “a large explosion”, adding that the school will have just opened after a 10-day holiday.
Magnay said school shootings are rare in Russia. The last major shooting was in 2018, when a student at a college in Russian-annexed Crimea killed 19 people before turning his gun on himself.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to families of the victims in Kazan and has already ordered the government to revise gun regulations in light of the attack.
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