Several students and at least one adult, as well as the suspected shooter, were among the dead, mayor Elke Kahr confirmed to Austrian press agency APA.

School shootings are much more rare in Europe than in the United States but in recent years Europe has been shaken by attacks at schools and universities, that were not connected to terrorism.

"Currently, a police operation is underway... The reason for the deployment was that gunshots were heard in the building," the police said on X, confirming the attack in the city of Graz.

Police and interior ministry officials could not immediately be reached by AFP.

"The situation is very unclear at the moment," police sources told Austria's APA news agency.

EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas declared herself "deeply shocked" Tuesday by reports of the shooting.

"Every child should feel safe at school and be able to learn free from fear and violence," Kallas posted on X. "My thoughts are with the victims, their families and the Austrian people in this dark moment."

Attacks in public are rare in the Alpine nation of almost 9.2 million people. It ranks among the ten safest countries in the world, according to the Global Peace Index.

In January 2025, an 18-year-old man fatally stabbed a high school student and a teacher at a school in northeastern Slovakia.

In December 2024, a 19-year-old man stabbed a seven-year-old student to death and injured several others at a primary school in Zagreb, Croatia.

In December 2023, an attack by a student at a university in central Prague left 14 people dead and 25 injured.

A few months earlier that year, a 13-year-old gunned down eight fellow classmates and a security guard at an elementary school in downtown Belgrade. Six children and a teacher were also injured. The shooter contacted the police, who arrested him.

In 2009, nine pupils, three teachers and three passers-by were killed in a school shooting at Winnenden in southern Germany by a former pupil who then killed himself. (AFP)