A schoolboy has gone on a knife rampage in Russia – stabbing his teacher before setting her on fire.
During the frenzied attack, the boy, identified locally as Artyom Tagirov, 15, stabbed his computer science teacher Ekaterina Pershina, 29, before pouring a flammable liquid on her and setting her alight.
The student then turned his attack on his own classmates – stabbing two other girls in the classroom at School Number One in Sterlitmak, Russia.
One of the girls managed to escape his attacks by leaping from a second floor classroom window onto the concrete below – according to local news outlets.
Smoke could be seen billowing out of a classroom window as panicked students rushed from the school building
Terrified schoolchildren can be seen embracing one another in a shocking video taken moments after the attack
The alleged attacked Artyom Tagirov (right) reportedly posted hate-filled messages and images on his social media before the attack
Tagirov then attempted to slit his own throat – but he was kept alive after being rushed to hospital.
The boy’s teacher and the two girls received life-saving treatment – but all four are said to be in ‘grave condition’.
Dramatic footage emerging from the scene of the attack showed smoke pouring from the building and panicked students rushing around the school grounds and consoling one another after the entire complex was evacuated.
Natalia Malyatova, a mother of one of the students, said: ‘My daughter is in School Number One.
‘She says that a boy from the 9th grade came to the lesson, stabbed a computer science teacher and two kids then set the classroom on fire.
‘And one girl jumped out of the window, from the second floor.’
Local Health Ministry official Svetlana Kuskarbekova, said: ‘Four injured people were taken to a hospital in the city of Sterlitamak, three of them children.’
‘They are in grave condition. Updates on the injuries will be provided.’
The teacher was understood to be undergoing surgery after receiving stab wounds to the stomach and chest.
Images of the aftermath of the attack showed the alleged weapon used by the attacker and blood spattered all over the floor of the classroom
All four of involved in the stabbings, including Pershina (pictured) were now said to be in ‘grave condition’ in hospital
According to local media, the alleged attacker’s social media was said to be awash with hate-filled posts and violent images.
While two hours before the attack he reportedly posted a video about the Columbine attack in a US high school in 1999 which left 15 dead.
Russia has suffered several school bloodbaths in recent months.
In January, student suspect Anton Bichivin, 16, firebombed a literature class, cracking open the heads of two pupils and a teacher at a school in the Siberian region of Buryatia – with eight injured in total.
The same month nine pupils and ‘hero’ teacher Natalia Shagulina suffered knife wounds when two teenagers went on the rampage in a classroom in the Urals city of Perm.
And in September last year, student Mikhail Pivnev, then 15, threw smoke bombs and struck teacher Lyubov Kalmykova, 39, with an axe at a school near Moscow.
Firemen had to battle to extinguish the blaze which caused a significant amount of damage to the classroom
Ekaterina Pershina, 29, was stabbed in the chest and the stomach by Tagirov’s frenzied attack
Tagirov reportedly slit his own throat after completing his rampage but was saved by paramedics who whisked him to the local hospital
In a chilling message he wrote to an anonymous female friend in July, he posted an image of the entrance to his school, and warned: ‘If this happens, I want to apologise to you all, though you will not hear me.
‘But anyway I’m sorry. I do not lie. I’m going to kill at least 30. And I’m going to blow up the school. This is my last summer.
‘I will celebrate my last birthday, on April 15 I will be 17. I have prepared, looking forward this day.’
He went on to boast about the weaponry he had collected – saying he had several deadly implements.
‘I have non-lethal gun and knives. It will be May 25-26. I hate society, they made me like this. But they must pay for it.
‘I will not kill kids from 1 – 5 grades. I want to kill at least 18. They deserve this….
‘You can consider me a follower of Eric and Dylan [Columbine shooters]. I have learned the essence of this world.
‘The world is shit. I consider myself God.
‘I have a personality disorder, but my parents want to sort it out. If this happens – watch the news, if you still watch the TV. I’m serious. Murder is cool.
‘My mind is broken. My parents do not care. I was bullied at school for two years. My hatred will not just calm down. I’m sick. But no-one wants to help me.
‘There was a cry for help, but all just turned away. I just do not like this life. I’m not talented. I cannot do anything, just kill.
‘There is so much hatred in me, that I cannot stop. I’m obsessed with it.’