Russia school shooting kills 15, including children

The death toll has risen to 15 people, including 11 children, after a man opened fire Monday at his former school in central Russia, authorities said.

The attack was the latest in a series of school shootings that have shaken Russia in recent years and came with the country on edge over efforts to mobilise tens of thousands of men to fight in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced the “inhuman terrorist attack” in the city of Izhevsk, the Kremlin said, adding that the shooter “apparently belongs to a neo-fascist group”. 

According to investigators, the attacker “was wearing a black top with Nazi symbols and a balaclava” when his body was discovered.

He was later identified as a local man born in 1988, who graduated from the school. Investigators have said two security guards and two teachers were among the victims, while the attacker “committed suicide”. 

Authorities previously announced a death toll of seven children and six adults but did not specify if that included the suspected shooter.

Investigators said they were searching his home and probing his “adherence to neo-fascist views and Nazi ideology”.  The region’s governor Alexander Brechalov confirmed there were “casualties and wounded among children”, speaking in a video statement outside school No88 in Izhevsk. 

Rescue and medical workers could be seen in the background, some running inside the school with stretchers. Brechalov declared a period of mourning in the region to last until Thursday.