Axe-wielding pupil wounds several in German school

ANSBACH, Germany (Reuters) - An 18-year-old man threw petrol bombs into two classrooms and lashed out with an axe at his school in Germany on Thursday, severely wounding two girls, before police shot him in the stomach to stop him.

One girl was in a life-threatening condition after receiving skull injuries while another was severely burnt by the petrol bomb, a police spokesman said. Others had light injuries.

The 18-year-old student, who was armed with two knives and several petrol bombs when police cornered him inside the Carolinum secondary school in the southern town of Ansbach, was shot several times and arrested, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said.

"Police smelt burning in the stairs and ran into the suspect, who was armed with an axe, several knives and further petrol bombs," Herrmann told a news conference.

The 18-year-old was in a critical condition. Police had evacuated the school's 700 pupils, who were now with their families, or being treated by counsellors.

Police said they had no idea what had motivated the young man, who had never aroused attention, to attack his fellow students.

The incident is the latest in a spate of school attacks in Germany. In March, a 17-year old killed 15 people in a shooting spree at his former school in the southwest town of Winnenden before killing himself.

In 2006, a masked man armed with rifles and explosives attacked a school in the western town of Emsdetten, wounding 11 people before killing himself.

Germany suffered its worst school shooting in April 2002 when a gunman killed 17 people, including himself, at a high school in the eastern city of Erfurt.