Sawt Falasteen - Austria mourns school shooting victims with minute's silence

Locals in Austria's second-largest city Graz hugged each other, cried and left flowers, candles as well as letters to the victims in churches and outside the school, which has around 400 students aged between 14 and 18.

Chancellor Christian Stocker -- who called Tuesday's shooting at the Dreierschuetzengasse secondary school "a national tragedy" -- declared three days of national mourning.

Church bells rang out as people stopped in the streets, radio and TV programmes were interrupted and public transport was halted.

A teacher and nine teenagers, including a Franco-Austrian and a Polish national, aged between 14 and 17, were among the victims, Austrian press agency APA reported.

Of the eleven people wounded, nine were still in intensive care but in a "stable" condition on Wednesday, according to hospital officials.

Hundreds of people also rushed to donate their blood, responding to a call for donations by the Red Cross.

"It is truly shocking... We will always think back on this," Mariam Fayz, a 22-year-old student, told AFP at a candle vigil.

- Unclear motive -

Religion teacher Paul G. Nitsche was in a classroom when he heard a "bang" followed by the sound of bullet casings hitting the floor of a corridor outside.

"Something snapped inside me, I jumped up, and decided to run," the evangelical pastor told AFP.

As he fled, he caught a glimpse of the shooter. "As I ran down the stairs, I thought to myself, 'This isn't real, this is a film.'"

But he realised what had happened, when he "saw a student lying on the floor and a teacher was there".

Police said the alleged perpetrator was an Austrian from the Graz region who used two legally owned weapons -- a shotgun and a pistol.

He acted alone and took his own life in the school bathroom.

The 21-year-old shooter was a former pupil at the secondary school, but never finished his studies there.

During a search at the suspect's home, police found a "non-functional" homemade bomb and a farewell letter to his parents, which did not offer any clues about his motive.

Some Austrian media claimed that the suspect had been bullied, while television stations discussed the ease with which Austrians can acquire firearms and the number in circulation in the country.

- 'Shocked' -

People across Austria, where gun violence is rare, were struggling to express their shock.

Ennio, a student at the school, told AFP Wednesday that people were trying to understand the situation.

"We ask that we be left in peace today so that we can mourn together".

Austrian newspapers ran headlines that read "Why?" and "It's horrific", with the daily Kurier opting for a front page in black.

Condolences also poured in from leaders across Europe, with Pope Leo XIV offering his "prayers for the victims of the tragedy" in Graz at his general audience on Wednesday.

M.AbuKhalil--SF-PST