SERPUKHOV: A Russian teenager tried to blow himself up at an Orthodox school in a 14th century convent outside Moscow on Monday, wounding ten children.

The attacker, an 18-year-old former student of the school, survived. He was taken into intensive care and had his leg amputated after suffering injuries, authorities said.

“The person who tried to commit suicide is in intensive care,” a representative of the Investigative Commi­ttee, Olga Vradiy, told journalists.

Police and ambulances lined the red-coloured medieval walls of the convent, founded in 1360.

Russia has seen a rise in attacks on schools in recent years but incidents at religious premises are rare. The interior ministry said the teenager entered “the Orthodox gymnasium next to the Vvedenskiy Vladychniy convent and blew himself up.” The convent is in the city of Serpukhov, 100 kilometres south of Moscow.

Ten children were wounded, said Ksenia Mishonova, the children’s rights ombudswoman for the Moscow region.

“One teenager was hospitalised. The rest of the children are in hospitals in the Moscow region,” she said on Telegram. “There is no threat to their lives”.

The Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said it opened a criminal case into attempted murder and the illegal handling of explosives.State news agency TASS, citing a police source, said that the teenager wanted the device to go off during morning prayers, but it detonated at the entrance to the school.

Authorities said they were working to establish the motives behind the attack.

The Interfax news agency said the teenager could have wanted to take revenge for being bullied by nuns in the convent.

Vladimir Legoida, a Russian Orthodox Church spokesman, said the church will provide assistance to “all those affected.” “Wherever such attacks take place, they cause the same grief and desire to prevent this from happening in the future,” he said in a statement on messaging app Telegram.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2021