A schoolgirl has reportedly been injured in the Siberian city of Kemerovo, in the wake of a string of knife attacks in schools across Russia.
Two high-profile attacks in the Far East and the Urals last month have led to a federal crackdown on online communities that promote violence. Russia’s popular Vkontakte social network reportedly took down nine groups dedicated to the 1999 Columbine High School massacre this week.
A public school administrator in the southern city of Kemerovo called the latest attack “an accident,” the state-run TASS news agency reported Thursday.
“The boy happened to have a knife. He was playing with it, the knife flew off and injured the girl,” the school administrator was cited as saying.
“There are no reasons for a scandal, [it was] just an accident,” the unnamed administrator said.
Regional investigators said the victim was hospitalized with light injuries after being stabbed by a 15-year-old.
“[He] wanted to stick the knife in the backpack of a 13-year-old girl that hung on her back,” an online statement said.
“She turned slightly at that moment, and he encountered the victim instead of the backpack.”
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