Finland expected to tighten gun laws after shooting

Police were today working to identify the charred victims of a school massacre in Finland that shocked the nation and sparked calls for tighter gun laws.

Matti Juhani Saari, 22, armed himself with a .22 calibre handgun and petrol bombs and opened fire on classmates at a vocational college yesterday, killing 10 people and burning their bodies before shooting himself fatally in the head.

Police said the victims were eight women and two men. At least two other people were wounded.

The National Bureau of Investigation said all the women were students, one of the men was a teacher and the other a student.

The massacre in the small town of Kauhajoki, 180 miles north west of Helsinki, was Finland's second school shooting in less than a year and led to renewed calls for a review of the nation's gun laws.

"We must considerably tighten them," prime minister Matti Vanhanen said.

"We should consider whether to allow these small arms for private citizens at home. They belong on firing ranges."

Vanhanen was visiting Kauhajoki with other ministers today, which was declared a day of mourning.

Finland, a nation with deep-rooted traditions of hunting, ranks in the top five in the world when it comes to civilian gun ownership, with roughly 1.6 million firearms in private hands.

The Finnish government also called for an investigation into how police handled the case because Saari was questioned by officers a day before the carnage about YouTube videos in which he was seen firing his gun.

Police said they released him because he had not broken any laws and was not deemed a threat to others.

"It's clear that we have to carefully go through what should have been done and if we could have avoided this situation in some way," interior minister Anne Holmlund said.

Saari was a student at the school, which offers courses in catering, tourism, nursing and home economics. Police said he did not have a criminal record.

Witnesses said panic erupted as the masked gunman, dressed in black and carrying a large bag, entered the school just before 11am and started firing in a classroom where students were taking an exam.

Police had not released the names of the victims, but said at least one was a teacher.

Saari shot himself in the head and died hours later in hospital.

Police said his motive was unclear, though investigation leader Jari Neulaniemi said Saari left two hand-written messages saying he had planned the attack since 2002 and that he hated the human race.

The rampage bore eerie similarities to another school massacre in Finland last year in which an 18-year-old gunman killed eight people and himself.

Both gunmen posted violent clips on YouTube prior to the shootings, both were fascinated by the 1999 Columbine school shootings in Colorado, both attacked their own schools and both died after shooting themselves in the head.

A video clip posted on the internet by Saari showed him pointing his gun to the camera and saying "You will die next" before firing four rounds.

President Tarja Halonen said the shooting showed the need for the older generation to watch over the activities of the young on the internet and to renew discussions about handgun legislation in Finland.