Siberia school axe attack: Teenager wounds at least seven before setting building alight and attempting suicide

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A teenage boy armed with an axe has attacked a classroom in Buryatia, eastern Siberia, wounding at least seven children.

After setting the building alight with a petrol bomb, the boy then attempted to kill himself.

All but one of the injured are between the ages of 13 and 15. Three remain in serious condition. One girl reportedly had a finger cut off.

A teacher was also injured, reportedly after having thrown herself on the boy to protect children from further attack.

According to an account on local media, the attack on School Number Five in Sosnovy Bor, a closed military town, happened around 9am local time.

“The first thing we saw was a bottle being thrown in, and then the blinds caught fire,” said “Liza”, a witness quoted by one publication.

Panic then began as students tried to escape. “He hit one girl with an axe, direct to the head, then he stabbed another. It was a nightmare.”

The teenager has been identified as 15-year-old Anton Bichivin. According to an early statement issued by the Buryatia regional government, two other students were involved in planning the attack, but this was later contradicted by the national Investigation Committee in Moscow. The attacker was arrested after stabbing himself and jumping out of a window. He remains in hospital with his injuries.

Some reports have suggested that the boy was motivated by poor grades and the prospect of being held back a year. According to an unnamed source quoted by the state media outlet RIA Novosti, he had not been in trouble with police before and came from a stable family.

The incident follows a spate of similar attacks across Russia. Just last week, two masked boys attacked a school in the central Russian city of Perm, injuring a dozen. In September, a student attacked a teacher with a knife and air gun, wounding four students in the process.

An even more serious incident took place in north Moscow in February 2014, when a student opened fire and killed 30-year-old geography teacher Andrei Kirillov. A policeman was also killed after arriving at the scene.

Firearm attacks are rare in Russia, owing to the difficulty of acquiring guns. An overwhelming majority of Russians remain opposed to legalisation – 80 per cent, according to a 2013 poll.

The Buryatia governor has cancelled a working visit to Mongolia to fly to the scene of the attack.