Gunman kills at least nine in attack on Austria's secondary school

A gunman killed at least nine people at a secondary school in the southern Austrian city of Graz on Tuesday, in the worst school shooting in the country's modern history.

Police said the attacker also died and that they were working on the assumption that he had operated alone. National broadcaster ORF said about 30 people were wounded. Austrian media reported that most of the dead were pupils at the school.

Police did not publicly identify the killer, but Austrian media cited unconfirmed reports saying he was a former pupil who had entered the school and opened fire on pupils.

"The rampage at a school in Graz is a national tragedy that has deeply shaken our entire country," Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker said in a statement.

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

At the scene, police had set up a perimeter a few hundred meters away from the school, barring access routes with police cars.

A local police spokesperson said the area had been secured, the school had been evacuated and relatives of the victims and pupils were being cared for.

The Kurier and Salzburger Nachrichten newspapers identified the suspect as a 22-year-old former student.

Salzburger Nachrichten said he was Austrian, believed to have had no criminal record and that he had recently purchased one of the weapons.

It said the gunman had been a victim of bullying. He carried a pistol and a shotgun and opened fire on pupils in two classrooms, one of which had once been his own.

The Kronen Zeitung tabloid said a suspect had been found dead in a bathroom.

Police were called to the scene at around 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) after shots were heard at the school.

Julia Ebner, an extremism expert at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue think tank, said the incident appeared to be the worst school shooting in Austria's post-war history, describing such shootings as rare compared to some countries, including the United States.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on X, "Every child should feel safe at school and be able to learn free from fear and violence. My thoughts are with the victims, their families and the Austrian people in this dark moment."

(With input from Reuters)