From correspondents in Europe, 04:02 PM IST

A gunman Tuesday opened fire at a vocational school in northwest Finland, media said.

Police said several people were feared dead in the shooting in Kauhajoki, a small town 300 km from Helsinki.

A man with a ski mask went into the school building before the shooting took place, CNN cited a witness as saying.

The gunman, around 20-year-old, has been disarmed, news agencies quoted police as saying.

But a CNN report said the suspect has reportedly killed himself.

In November 2007, a gunman named Pekka-Eric Auvinen killed eight people and himself with a handgun at the Jokela High School near Helsinki.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)