Serbia: Teen shoots dead 9 in Belgrade classroom

A 14-year-old boy opened fire in his Belgrade classroom on Wednesday morning, shooting dead eight fellow pupils and a security guard in a pre-planned attack and wounding seven others, Serbian officials said.

Using his father's handgun, the boy fired first at the security guard and three girls in the hallway and then entered a history class and shot at the teacher and classmates, police said. The teacher and six pupils were hospitalised, some with life-threatening injuries.

Police said a seventh-grade student had been arrested in the schoolyard after calling the police and confessing to the shooting. An investigation into his motives was under way. It was unclear if he shot any of the people that he named on his list.

Veselin Milic, head of Belgrade police, said the attacker had two guns and two petrol bombs and had pre-planned everything. "He even had...names of children he wanted to kill and their classes," he told a press conference.