Russia school shooting: Teenage girl kills classmate and herself

The scene after the shooting on Thursday morning

A teenage girl has shot and killed a fellow pupil in a school in western Russia before shooting herself.

The attack happened in the city of Bryansk, close to the Ukrainian and Belarusian borders, on Thursday morning.

Five people were injured in the shooting, one of them seriously, Russian authorities said.

The gun used by the girl was registered in her father's name, a parliamentarian said.

Police were called to Gymnasium No 5 in Bryansk at about 09:15 local time (06:15 GMT) on Thursday.

Alexey Kuznetsov, Russia's deputy health minister, said one victim was undergoing surgery.

Police say they believe the 14-year-old girl may have been involved in a conflict with classmates.

Students, teachers and parents at the school have been offered psychological support, journalists were told by the local authorities.

Alexander Khinshtein, a member of the Russian Duma, said on his Telegram account that the girl's belongings, including a box of bullets, were found during a search of the school.

Mr Khinshtein added that one of the reasons the tragedy occurred was the "neglectful attitude" towards the storage of the gun.

Russia has strict laws on guns, which need to be stored in a special safe, accessible only by the legal gun owner. It has to be regularly inspected by police.

Russian news agency RIA said students barricaded themselves in the classroom when they heard shots being fired.

"The boys barricaded the door with the desks, one girl called the police, the teacher was calling everyone else," RIA quoted one of the school girls.

The governor of the Bryansk region, Alexander Bogomaz, called the shooting a "terrible tragedy".

There have been several school shootings in Russia in recent years, although Thursday's incident is believed to be the first involving a female shooter.

In 2021, a 19-year-old killed seven children and two adults at a Kazan school.

The following year, 18 people were killed at a school in Udmurtia.

If you've been affected by the issues in this story, help and support is available via the BBC Action Line