A 13-year-old boy opened fire at a school in the Serbian capital of Belgrade on Wednesday, killing nine people, including eight students.

The shooting took place at around 8:30 a.m.

The boy fired into a classroom and elsewhere. A security guard is among those dead.

Six other students and a teacher were also injured and have been hospitalized.

Foreign media report that local police said the shooter called the police himself and was taken into police custody in the schoolyard.

The handgun is owned by the attacker's father. Police are investigating the boy's motives as he appeared to have planned the attack meticulously.

French news agency AFP has reported shootings at schools are rare in Serbia.

xinhua