Eight children, security guard killed in Serbia school shooting

At least eight children and a security guard were killed in a rare school shooting in Belgrade in Serbia on Wednesday.

A teacher and six others were injured in the shooting incident and they were taken to hospital, the interior ministry said in a statement. The condition of one among the six is "life-threatening", according to reports. The teacher is also seriously injured.

The cops have arrested a 14-year-old student in connection with the incident. The Interior Ministry stated that he used his father's gun in the shooting.

"The police sent all available patrols immediately to the spot and arrested a suspected minor - a seventh grade student who is suspected of firing several shots from his father's gun in the direction of students and school security," the ministry said in a statement.

However, the motive behind the firing is yet to be known. The Police received a call about the shooting about 8:40 am (06:40 GMT) on Wednesday.

The statement stated that all police forces are on the ground "working intensively to shed light on all the facts and circumstances that led to this tragedy."

"The wounded are being administered medical care, while the police work to establish the facts and circumstances that led to this incident," the ministry statement said.

Milan Milosevic, the father of one of the students at the school, opened up on the incident and said that his daughter managed to escape.

"[The boy] first shot the teacher and then he started shooting randomly," BBC quoted Milosevic as telling broadcaster N1. "I saw the security guard lying under the table. I saw two girls with blood on their shirts. They say he [the shooter] was quiet and a good pupil. He recently joined their class."

"I saw kids running out from the school, screaming. Parents came, they were in panic. Later I heard three shots," one student told the Serbian state broadcaster RTS.

Serbia has strict gun laws and mass shootings are very rare. However, the gun ownership in the country is among the highest in Europe.