A teenager armed with an axe has attacked fellow students at a school in southern Siberia, wounding five children and a teacher, officials said.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said the ninth-grader entered a classroom during a lesson on Friday and attacked seventh-graders and their teacher.

He set off a firebomb in the room and tried to kill himself before being apprehended.

The attacker, whose motives were not immediately clear, was taken to hospital  and an official investigation has been launched.

Russia School Attack
Armed police block an area around the school after the attack. The words on the gate translate as ‘Fairy tale’ (Anna Ogorodnik/AP)

The incident  happened in Sosnovy Bor on the outskirts of Ulan-Ude, the regional capital of Buryatia, a region near the Russia-Mongolia border.

It is the second attack on a school in Russia this week.

Two teenagers stabbed children and their teacher with knives in the city of Perm in the Ural mountains on Monday, injuring 15 people.

The attackers then tried to kill each other, but were detained.