Over 15 dead in Prague university shooting

 A mass shooting at a Prague university on Thursday left 11 people dead — including the gunman — and nine seriously wounded, the Czech capital's emergency services department said on social platform X.

Czech police said shortly after 3pm that they were responding to a school shooting in Jan Palach Square near Prague's Old Town Square, before reporting that the gunman had been "eliminated."

Police gave no details about the victims or the circumstances of the gunfire in the Czech Republic’s capital. They said officers were deployed due to a shooting at a school in Jan Palach Square.

The philosophy department of Charles University, which is located in the square, was evacuated, Prague Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda said.

The police department said the square has been sealed off. It urged people to leave the surrounding streets and stay inside.

Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan said no other assailant was at the scene, but he urged people to cooperate with police.

Prague’s rescue service confirmed that 11 people had died, including the shooter. It said about 30 others suffered various injuries, including nine with serious ones.

Pavel Nedoma, the director of Rudolfinum Gallery, which also is located in the square, told Czech public television he saw from a window a person who was shooting from a gun toward the nearby Manes bridge across the Vltava River.

Czech President Petr Pavel said he was "shocked" by Thursday's shooting at Prague's Charles University.

"I am shocked by the events... I would like to express my deep regret and sincere condolences to the families and relatives of the victims claimed by the shooting," Pavel, who is winding up a two-day visit to Paris on Thursday, said on X, formerly Twitter.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala cancelled his scheduled events and was heading for Prague.

Agencies