Many people were injured after a teenager exploded a bomb at an Orthodox school outside Moscow. According to the interior ministry, an 18-year-old former student of the school in Serpukhov, Russia, attempted to blow himself up. He is said to have survived.
A 15-year-old is among those injured, according to the ministry. As per reports, at least eight people have been injured. Teenagers’ attacks on schools have increased in recent years in Russia.
The attacker is identified as Vladislav Struzhenkov, who is currently receiving treatment at a local hospital.
Interfax news agency stated the teenager’s hatred toward school staff and students may have been the reason behind carrying out the attack.
Some other sources stated the former high school student was planning an attack during morning prayers, but his explosive device exploded at the monastery’s entrance.
An attempted murder investigation has been launched by Moscow-area prosecutors, but the motive for the attack has not yet been officially established.
A video posted by the prosecutors shows police and ambulances outside the convent, where the shooting occurred. According to Andrei Vorobyev, the Moscow region’s governor, no students were seriously hurt in the incident, but he did not say how many.
He wrote on Telegram that “all services responded on time” and that “doctors helped injured children.”
In Serpukhov, the Vvedensky Vladychniy Monastery was established in 1360. Approximately 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Moscow, this school serves students ranging in age from seven to sixteen.
Serpukhov’s Vvedensky Vladychniy convent is a centuries-old religious complex. The Kremlin in Moscow can be seen in its red battlement wall.
Riot police officers in black helmets and flak jackets now patrol the convent gate. A couple of middle-aged guards were watching the CCTV feeds inside their cabin when I arrived this morning.
According to one of them, he heard the explosion but didn’t pay attention to it. “The sound wasn’t very loud; I thought perhaps it was something exploding by the river; they sometimes blow up ice there,” he said. ”
An additional security guard claims that if the attacker had been able to get inside the school, the number of casualties would have been much higher than they were. In response to a call from “Mother Klavdiya,” the emergency services have “cordoned off” the area, they say.
All of the students at the convent school, both male and female, were evacuated as soon as the attack occurred.