A 17-year-old boy killed five teenagers and injured four others during a drunken stabbing spree in Siberia’s Irkutsk region, law enforcement authorities said Wednesday.
Police investigators said they found the bodies inside a burned house in the town of Baikalsk, about 85 kilometers (53 miles) south of the capital city of Irkutsk.
“At some point, one of them attacked the others with a knife. Four teenagers died at the scene and four more were hospitalized,” the regional branch of Russia’s Investigative Committee said.
Three of the surviving teenagers suffered minor injuries, while one remains hospitalized in critical condition with stab wounds.
The attacker, who was not identified by name, set the house on fire after the stabbing and died in the blaze, law enforcement officials said, adding that they launched a murder investigation.
Irkutsk region Governor Igor Kobzev said the victims were between 13 and 16 years old. The group had gathered for a birthday party, he added.
Baikalsk Mayor Vasily Temgenevsky said alcohol played a role in the violence.
Health and education officials said the victims were seventh to 10th-grade students from two local schools. Regional Education Minister Maxim Parfyonov said the teens were part of “an as yet unknown community.”
Local authorities declared three days of mourning.
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