Belgrade (AFP) - Eight students and a security guard were killed during a school shooting in the Serbian capital Belgrade on Wednesday, the interior ministry said, as police arrested a teenage student suspected of carrying out the attack.
The incident rocked the Balkan nation, where there has not been a school shooting of this magnitude in decades.
The shooting occurred at 8:40 am (0640 GMT) at an elementary school in Belgrade's downtown Vracar district.
Police moved quickly to seal off the neighbourhood as parents rushed to the scene, where students were visibly distraught as they waited outside the school.
"Eight children and a security guard were killed, while six children and one schoolteacher were wounded," the interior ministry said.
"All police forces are still on the ground and are intensively working to shed light on all the facts and circumstances that led to this tragedy."
Milan Nedeljkovic, president of the Vracar district, said the school's security guard probably prevented more deaths by putting himself in front of the shooter.
The guard "wanted to prevent the tragedy and he was the first victim", Nedeljkovic told reporters live on television outside the school.
"Probably the tragedy would be even bigger if the man did not stand in front of the boy who was shooting," he added.
'Father's gun'
A teenage student suspected of carrying out the attack was arrested.
"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 interior ministry said.
Police did not release any additional information about the suspected shooter or comment on a possible motive.
The head of Belgrade's main hospital KCS, Milika Asanin, said doctors were operating on several of the wounded.
"One male student is in a serious condition with serious gunshot wounds to the chest and neck, and the other male student was injured in his lower leg," Asanin told Serbian news outlet RTS.
"The girl student was wounded in the stomach and both arms, and the teacher in the stomach and both hands," he said.
Schools across Belgrade were closed following the shooting, according to state media, as shock spread through the capital.
Astrid Merlini, whose daughter was in the school during the shooting, said teachers moved quickly to hide students as the attack unfolded.
"When (my daughter) saw the security guard fall, she immediately rushed back to class.She was scared.She told her teacher -- there is a shooting upstairs," Merlini told AFP.
"The teacher immediately sheltered the children, locked them in the class."
Gun violence in schools is extremely rare in Serbia, where purchasing a firearm requires a special permit.
Following the shooting, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell offered "deep condolences to the families and close ones of the victims".
