Ten injured in knife attack at Polish school
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Police said the suspect was a student at the school and that he had attacked people with a machete.
PHOTO: REUTERS
WARSAW – Ten people were injured in a knife attack at a school in Ostroleka in north-eastern Poland on Oct 7, the town’s mayor said, with police detaining the 19-year-old suspect, who was among those hurt, shortly after the incident.
Mayor Pawel Niewiadomski told reporters that nine people had been taken to hospital but that none of them was in a life-threatening condition.
“The injured included five students, two teachers, and two bystanders, as well as the perpetrator, who inflicted self-harm,” he said.
Police said the suspect was a student at the school and that he had attacked people with a machete.
They confirmed that bomb disposal experts were checking the attacker’s backpack but were unable to say if anything had been found.
Students barricaded themselves in classrooms
The attack took place at a vocational school for teenagers.
Fire brigade spokesman Adrian Stupski told state news channel TVP Info that students had barricaded themselves into classrooms in self-defence before they were evacuated.
The authorities said the attack happened around 9am GMT.
Police said they detained the suspect about 20 minutes after the attack and posted a photo on social media platform X showing a man they appeared to have apprehended lying face down in a wooded area.
Town hall spokeswoman Katarzyna Ogniewska told reporters that all schools in Ostroleka were closed and that children were safe.
The motives behind the attack were unclear. Such incidents are rare in Poland, but in September police detained a 13-year-old suspected of planning an attack and found a knife in his bag. REUTERS