Stockholm:
Five people were shot and injured at a school in the central Swedish city of Orebro on Tuesday, the police said, encouraging the public to stay away from the area when a major operation was going on.
Images from the scene showed a large presence on the police with several ambulances and emergency vehicles outside the school.
School attacks are relatively rare in Sweden, which in recent years are more used to shootings and bombing linked to Bendegeweld who kill dozens of people every year.
“The extent of the injuries is unclear. The operation is underway,” the police said in a statement and later added that no officers were injured during the operation.
The police initially said that four people had been shot, but the count updated to five minutes later.
The crime was investigated as “attempted murder, arson and an exacerbated weapon”.
Members of the public were encouraged to stay away from the area or to stay in their homes.
In an update just after 14:00 (1300 GMT), the police emphasized that “the danger is not over. The public must stay away.”
The police would hold a press conference at 3.30 p.m. (1430 GMT).
Tabloid experts reported that the suspected shooter had shot himself, but the police did not confirm that information.
Experts and Aftonbladet also reported that the police had been fired on the spot.
Students in nearby schools and the school in question were locked up in 'for security reasons', the police said.
Speaking with Omroep SVT, Minister of Justice Gunnar Stromer said that the reports were “very serious”.
“The government is in close contact with the police and closely follows developments,” Stromer told SVT.
According to various Swedish media, witnesses reported to hear what they thought it was automatic gunfire.
Krant Aftonbladet wrote that it had received reports that the local hospital had emptied first aid and intensive care pending the injured.
Although school attacks are rare, several serious incidents have taken place in schools in recent years.
In March 2022, an 18-year-old student put two teachers dead in a secondary school in the southern city of Malmo.
Two months earlier, a 16-year-old was arrested after he had injured another student and a teacher with a knife at a school in the small town of Kristianstad.
In October 2015, three people were killed in a racially motivated attack on a school in the western city of Trollhattan by a sword-woning attacker who was later killed by the police.
(Except for the headline, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)