From correspondents in Europe, 07:01 PM IST

A gunman Tuesday opened fire in a vocational school in northwest Finland killing at least three people and wounding many, media said.

Three people were confirmed killed and many wounded in the shooting in Kauhajoki, a small town 300 km northwest of Helsinki, reports said.

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

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

But a CNN report said the suspect killed himself.

The shooting was the second such incident after a gunman in November last year killed eight people and himself with a handgun at the Jokela High School near Helsinki.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)