Thirteen die in Azerbaijan university shooting

A gunman shot 12 people dead on Thursday before killing himself at a university in the oil-rich Caspian state of Azerbaijan, officials said.

The massacre at the Azerbaijan State Oil Academy stunned the small mainly Muslim country, which has never before seen the kind of public shooting rampages that have plagued some Western countries in recent years.

The ex-Soviet republic's interior ministry said in a statement that the gunman, identified as 29-year-old Farda Gadirov, entered the building shortly after morning lectures began and "shot at everyone he saw" while climbing stairs to the sixth floor.

"The police arrived at the scene and when he realised that he could not escape from the building he shot himself," the statement said.

It said he had used a Russian-made semi-automatic Makarov pistol and was carrying three cartridge clips.

The ministry made no mention of any motive for the attack.

The health ministry said in a statement that 13 people had died, including the gunman, and 10 been wounded. Both students and university employees were among the victims, it said.

Witnesses told Azerbaijani television that the killer had walked stealthily up the stairs, methodically shooting his victims.

"We were in class and heard the shots. We went into the corridor to see what was happening and I saw a man in a denim jacket firing from a pistol," an unidentified male student said on Azerbaijani television.

"One of our classmates tried to jump on him, to stop him, but he was shot and died right in front of our eyes," the student said.