Two teenagers have been seriously injured after a sword attack on a high school in Sweden, authorities have said.

Police were called to the Brinell School in Fagersta shortly after 14:00 local time (13:00 BST) on Friday, where officers arrested one man.

A third person was wounded in the attack but the extent of their injuries has not been confirmed, while reports in local media say the suspect was shot in the leg by police.

Eight other schools in the area were placed under lockdown measures – which have now been lifted – while a state of high alert was declared in the Vastmanland region following the attack.

Police have said there is currently no danger to the public.

In a post on X, Sweden’s Prime Minsiter Ulf Kristersson described the attack as a “serious incident,” and said “we do not know what lies behind the act, but we know that police are working very intensively”.

Students at Brinell School had only just returned to the classroom following the summer break, with the new term beginning either on Monday or Wednesday this week, depending on the academic year.

The school has just under 500 students on its roster, according to Sweden’s public broadcaster SVT, and is located 170km (105 miles) north-west of the capital, Stockholm.

Sweden has experienced a number of attacks on educational institutions in recent years.

The country experienced it’s worst-ever mass shooting in 2025, where 11 people, including the gunman, died at an adult education centre in Orebro.

This led to the government tightening the country’s gun laws after it was found that the suspect legally owned four rifles, three of which were found in the school where attack took place.

Two teachers were killed in a violent attack on a secondary school in Malmo in 2022 – an 18-year-old student later confessed to the attack.

In 2015, a teacher and a pupil were killed in a sword attack at a school in Trollhattan. (BBC)

Update news