German flags at half mast after school bloodbath

Seventeen-year-old Tim Kretschmer Wednesday burst into his former secondary school in Winnenden, a picturesque town in southern Germany, and opened fire, leaving nine pupils aged between 15 and 16 and three teachers dead.

Another three bystanders also died during a massive manhunt involving hundreds of armed police commandos and snipers in black body armor, assisted by helicopters and dogs.

Less than three hours after the killing spree began, the gunman eventually turned his weapon on himself after being injured in a fire-fight with police, bringing the death toll to 16.

One of the dead students, earlier reported to be of Turkish-origin, is believed to have been from Kosovo, news agencies said.

There is no indication of motive, but the gunman’s victims were primarily female: eight of nine students killed were girls, and all three teachers were women. Three men were killed later as the suspect fled.

A visibly shaken Angela Merkel, Germany’s Chancellor, described the crime as "incomprehensible".

"It is a day of mourning for the whole of Germany. Our thoughts go out to the families and the friends. We are thinking of you and we are praying for you," she added.

Interior Minister Wolfgang Schauble ordered flags across Germany to be flown at half mast Thursday as a mark of respect for the slain, AFP reported. Church services took place Wednesday in the town, which has a population around 27,000.

The slaughter started at 9:30 a.m. (0830 GMT) when Kretschmer entered the school he left last year, pulled out his nine-millimeter pistol and began his bloody rampage.

"He was constantly reloading his weapon," local police chief Konrad Gelden was quoted by AFP as telling reporters. "He just opened the door, pulled out his gun and started shooting," one pupil said on German television. "One person saw someone shot in the head."

"My brother was in the classroom in which it happened," said another. "He was sitting next to his girlfriend and she was shot."

Kretschmer went into classroom 10d three times, the Bild daily said on its website, hissing on the third visit: "Aren’t you all dead yet?"

All but one of the nine pupils killed at the school were girls, and the three teachers were women, said Heribert Rech, interior minister of the southern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg where the slaughter took place.

"I don’t want to speculate too much about this at this point ... The pupils sitting nearest the door were girls," he said.

Kretschmer had achieved "average" marks in his school-leaving certificate and then enrolled in a course to be a salesman, Rech said. He also regularly worked out at the gym and belonged to a sports club.

The school, which has 600 pupils, was part of a complex of several other schools with a total of 1,700 students aged from six to 19.