Seven children succumbed while 16 were injured from a shooting incident in a school in Kazan, Russia on Tuesday.
According to a report by CNN quoting Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee that the incident started when a 20-year-old gunman burst into a school and opened fire. The suspect has since been detained.
Svetlana Petrenko, an official representative of Russia’s Investigative Committee, was quoted by the TASS news agency as saying that the suspect is a local resident of Kazan.
TASS initially reported that there were two attackers involved in the incident, but later backtracked, saying there was only one suspect.
TASS also said that the Investigative Committee has initiated a probe into the mass murder case after the shooting.
Witnesses were also said to have seen explosions during the attack prior to the shooting, prompting several children to jump out of the school window to escape. The cause of the blast, however, remained unclear.
“There is heavy smoke,” an emergency services source was quoted as saying in an interview with state-owned RIA.
Some 21 ambulance teams and doctors were sent to the school in Kazan to assist.
According to the report, Russian President Vladimir Putin was briefed on the incident and has expressed his condolences to the families of victims of the incident.
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