Three Students, Teacher Hospitalized After Teen Attacks School In Russia

Burned books outside a school in Sterlitamak following a knife and arson attack on April 18.

Four people have been hospitalized after a knife-wielding teenage student attacked his school in Russia's Bashkortostan region, officials and media reports say.

Local media outlets cited students and teachers in the city of Sterlitamak as saying that a ninth-grader entered the school with a knife early in the morning on April 18 and stabbed a girl, who was wounded but jumped out a second-story window and survived.

The attacker also wounded two other girls and a teacher and set a classroom on fire, media reports said.

Regional Health Ministry spkeswoman Svetlana Kuskarbekova said that four people were hospitalized, and media reports said they included the suspected attacker.

The leader of Bashkortostan, Rustem Khamitov, left the regional capital, Ufa, for Sterlitamak following the attack, his press secretary Fanur Yagafarov said.

The Investigative Committee said on Telegram that investigators were on the scene and would determine whether to open a criminal case.

The committee, Russia's main investigative agency, used Telegram despite an order issued on April 16 by state regulator Roskomnadzor to block the messaging app.

The incident follows three attacks at Russian schools in January.

Based on reporting by Meduza, ufa1.ru, TASS, and RIA Novosti