Teacher dies, 2 hurt in Polish school knife attack, 15-year-old held

A 15-year-old former pupil attacked 3 staff members with a sharp object at John Paul II Primary School in Leszczydół-Nowiny, east-central Poland, on Thursday morning, Masovian police said. A 37-year-old school employee died despite resuscitation efforts; 2 others, including the headteacher, were injured.

The attack happened at around 9am, police said. Officers arrived within minutes of being alerted, and the headteacher helped restrain the attacker before he was detained, according to the police statement. The suspect, a former student at the school, was held at the scene.

Masovian regional governor Mariusz Frankowski told reporters that 9 people had been taken to hospital in total but that none was in a life-threatening condition. The injured included 5 students, 2 teachers and 2 bystanders, as well as the attacker, who had inflicted self-harm, he said.

The attack came a day after a separate knife attack at a vocational school in Ostroleka, also in northeastern Poland, injured 10 people, with police detaining a 19-year-old suspect who was among those hurt. Fire brigade spokesman Adrian Stupski said students there barricaded themselves into classrooms before being evacuated, and national prosecutor Dariusz Korneluk said a homemade explosive device that nearly detonated was found in the suspect's backpack.

Separately on Wednesday, police detained a 17-year-old in Sierpc, north-central Poland, after he told classmates he planned "to do something bad" at school. Officers searching his belongings found 2 knives and his phone, which contained searches about the planned attack, police said. Interior minister Marcin Kierwinski said the motive behind the Leszczydół-Nowiny attack was unclear, and that bomb disposal experts were also sent to the scene as a precaution.

Town hall and fire service officials said all schools in the wider area affected by Wednesday's Ostroleka attack were closed afterwards and that children there were safe, while medical staff continued to assist the injured from both incidents.