Teachers stabbed to death by student at Swedish school

Two teachers have died after being stabbed at a high school in southern Sweden, police said, adding that an 18-year-old student had been arrested.

The two women were both in their 50s, the police said on Tuesday in a statement following the attack at Malmo Latinskola, a secondary school in the centre of Malmo, the country's third largest city.

The two victims "were taken to the hospital but their lives could not be saved", the authorities said.

Local media said the alleged attacker called the emergency number to say where he was and that he had put down his weapon and admitted to having killed two people.

He was armed with a knife and an axe, according to several Swedish media.

The suspect was arrested without difficulty shortly after the arrival of the first patrol, according to the police account.

Earlier in the evening, police had initially reported two injured among the around 50 people in the school at the time of the incident.

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No established motive

Police were alerted around 1615 GMT (5:15PM local) and a first patrol was able to enter the school.

Footage shows heavily equipped and armed police inspecting the interior of the building.

The school remained cordoned off with police tape several hours later, and numerous police cars and ambulances were still at the scene.

No motive has been established so far.

After extensively inspecting the scene and interviewing witnesses, the authorities are convinced the suspect acted alone.

"A lot of work remains ahead of us to understand what happened and the motivation behind this appalling act," said Asa Nilsson, one of the heads of the investigation.

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