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UK Foreign Office offers condolences over Kerch tragedy

The attack resulted in the death of 21 individuals

MOSCOW, October 18./TASS/. The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office has offered condolences over a gun and bomb attack at the Kerch Polytechnic College in Crimea on Wednesday in which more than 20 people were killed.

"We are deeply saddened by the attack at Kerch Polytechnic College in Crimea, which killed and injured multiple people, many of whom were children," the Foreign Office said in a statement posted on the official website.

"The UK offers its sincere condolences and sympathy to the families and friends of those who were killed, and wishes a swift recovery to the injured," it said.

On Wednesday, a local student, armed with a rifle, went on a shooting rampage and detonated a bomb on the campus of the Kerch Polytechnic College in Crimea. The shooter later turned the gun on himself and committed suicide. Subsequently, a criminal case was initially opened on terrorism charges, but was later reclassified as murder.

Twenty-one people died because of the shooting and explosion at the Kerch technical college, including the gun-wielding teenage attacker who ended up taking his own life. Around 50 people were taken to local hospitals, with ten of them in intensive care units in grave condition.

Three days of mourning have been declared in Crimea as of Thursday.