Volkswacht Bodensee - Five people wounded in Sweden school shooting

Images from the scene showed a large police presence with multiple ambulances and emergency vehicles outside the school.

School attacks are relatively rare in Sweden, which has in recent years grown more accustomed to shootings and bombings linked to gang violence that kill dozens of people each year.

"The extent of the injuries is unclear. The operation is ongoing," police said in a statement, adding later that no officers had been wounded during the operation.

Police initially said that four people had been shot, but updated the tally minutes later to five.

The crime was being investigated as "attempted murder, arson and an aggravated weapons offence".

Members of the public were urged to stay away from the area, or stay inside their homes.

In an update just after 2:00 pm (1300 GMT), police stressed that "the danger is not over. The public MUST stay away."

Police were to hold a press conference at 3:30 pm (1430 GMT).

Tabloid Expressen reported that the suspected shooter had shot himself, but police have not confirmed that information.

Expressen and Aftonbladet also reported that police had been fired on at the scene.

Students in nearby schools and the school in question had been locked in "for safety reasons," police said.

Speaking to broadcaster SVT, Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer said the reports were "very serious".

"The government is in close contact with the police and is closely following developments," Strommer told SVT.

According to several Swedish media, witnesses reported hearing what they believed to be automatic gunfire.

Newspaper Aftonbladet wrote that it had received reports that the local hospital had emptied its emergency room and intensive care unit in anticipation of the wounded.

Though school attacks are rare, several serious incidents have taken place at schools in recent years.

In March 2022, an 18-year-old student stabbed two teachers to death at a high school in the southern city of Malmo.

Two months earlier, a 16-year-old was arrested after wounding another student and a teacher with a knife at a school in the small town of Kristianstad.

In October 2015, three people were killed in a racially-motivated attack at a school in the western town of Trollhattan by a sword-wielding assailant later killed by police.

C.Stoecklin--VB