A teacher and a pupil have been killed during an attack by a knife-wielding man at a school in southern Sweden. Another student and teacher were seriously injured during the incident.

The man was shot by police following the attack, which took place in the cafe area of the Kronan school in Trollhattan, near Gothenburg, Sweden’s second-largest city. Latest reports state that the attacker subsequently died in hospital. 

Police arrived at the school to find a male teacher dead and another male teacher and two boys wounded, police spokesman Thomas Fuxborg told the Associated Press. The boys are said to be aged 11 and 15. One has since died of his wounds.

A second police spokesman, Stefan Gustavsson, told AP that the attacker had a large knife, possibly two, including what may have been a sword. He said authorities knew the attacker had killed the teacher “because of the wounds he had”.

Mr Fuxborg said police fired two shots, one of which hit the attacker, who is a man in his twenties.

Health authorities in Trollhattan said the attacker was in a serious condition.

The school has 400 students, ranging from preschool to high school level.

Swedish media said the school held a meeting on Thursday morning to discuss teachers’ concerns that the building was too open, with a cafe for the public making it difficult to control who came in. The Dagens Nyheter newspaper reported that students had to walk through the cafe to reach the school’s own cafeteria and other parts of the building.

Sweden’s prime minister Stefan Löfven has cleared his schedule and is heading to Trollhattan.