Russia school shooting leaves 13 dead, including children

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The death toll has risen to 13 people, including seven children, after a shooting at a school in the city of Izhevsk in central Russia, investigators said Monday.

The attack was the latest in a series of school shootings that have shaken Russia in recent years and came with the country on edge over efforts to mobilise tens of thousands of men to fight in Ukraine.

“Thirteen people, including six adults and seven minors, were killed because of this crime,” Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement, adding that 14 children and seven adults were injured.

Authorities previously announced a death toll of nine people but did not specify if that included the suspected shooter.

Investigators have said two security guards and two teachers were among the victims, adding that the attacker “committed suicide”.

According to investigators, “he was wearing a black top with Nazi symbols and a balaclava” and was not carrying any ID.

The region’s governor Alexander Brechalov confirmed there were “casualties and wounded among children”, speaking in a video statement outside school No88 in Izhevsk.

Rescue and medical workers could be seen in the background, some running inside the school with stretchers.

Russia’s health ministry said “14 ambulance teams” were working at the scene to help the injured, news agencies reported.

Brechalov declared a period of mourning in the region to last until Thursday.

A city of around 630,000 people, Izhevsk is the regional capital of Russia’s Udmurt Republic, located around 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) east of Moscow.

The attack came just hours after a man had opened fire and severely wounded a recruitment officer at an enlistment centre in Siberia.

Russia’s last major school shooting was in April, when an armed man opened fire in a kindergarten in the central Ulyanovsk region, leaving a teacher and two children dead.

The shooter, described as “mentally ill”, was later found dead, with officials saying he had shot himself.

[AFP]