Teacher and student killed in Sweden stab attack by masked man

A knife-wielding masked man stabbed four people at a school in southern Sweden, killing a teacher and a student before being shot dead by police, authorities said.

Pictures taken by students and circulating in the media showed the assailant wearing black clothes and a Darth Vader-like mask, with school children initially thinking it was a prank or a Halloween costume.

Students fled from the Kronan school in Trollhattan, near Goteborg, the second largest city in Sweden, as the attack took place in a nearby cafe just after 10am, police said.