Serbian police on Friday arrested a gunman suspected of killing eight people and wounding 14 others in a village near Belgrade in the second mass shooting in the country this week.

"The suspect U.B., born in 2002, has been apprehended in the vicinity of the city of Kragujevac, he is suspected of killing eight people and wounding 14 overnight," the Serbian Interior Ministry said in a statement. It added that the investigation was ongoing.

The shooting in the village of Dubona, near the town of Mladenovac, 42 kilometers south of Belgrade, was the second in the Balkan country in just two days.

On Wednesday, a 13-year old boy shot dead nine and injured seven at a school in Belgrade before turning himself in.

According to local media, the suspect in the second shooting was involved in an altercation in a school yard late on Thursday and left but returned with an assault rifle and a handgun. He opened fire and continued to shoot at people at random from a moving car.

Around 600 Serbian police, including the elite Special Anti-terrorist Unit and Gendarmerie were involved in a manhunt, dubbed Operation Whirlwind, RTS reported.

Nation in mourning

The Balkan nation begins three days of official mourning on Friday following its first mass school shooting on Wednesday.

The suspected shooter took two of his father's handguns to kill eight pupils and a security guard in a hallway and history class at their school in the capital Belgrade.

Hundreds of school children with candles and flowers gathered for a vigil on Thursday evening in streets around the school, while churches planned memorial prayers.

Dozens of high school teachers rallied in front of the Education Ministry in downtown Belgrade on Thursday, demanding improvements to school security and the education system.

Gun culture is widespread in Serbia and elsewhere in the Balkans. The region has among the highest numbers of guns per capita in Europe, according to the Associated Press. Guns are often fired into the air at celebrations and the cult of the warrior is part of national identities, it noted.

After the school shooting in Belgrade, the Serbian government introduced a two-year ban on the issuing of new gun permits, a revision of existing permits and checks on how gun owners store their arms.

(With input from agencies)