Ex-pupil attacks school in Austria, kills 10

A FORMER PUPIL killed 10 people and then himself at a secondary school in the southern Austrian city of Graz on Tuesday in the worst school shooting in the country's modern history.

- REUTERS

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said six of the victims were female and three were male, and that 12 people were also injured. He gave no further details to identify the victims but Austrian media said most were pupils.

The motive for an attack that shocked the nation was not yet known. But police said they assumed the 21-year-old Austrian shooter, who was found dead in a bathroom, was operating alone when he entered the school with two guns and opened fire.

"The rampage at a school in Graz is a national tragedy that has deeply shaken our entire country," Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker said, calling it a "dark day in the history of our country."

"There are no words for the pain and grief that we all - all of Austria - are feeling right now."