STEINFURT (Germany), Nov 20: An 18-year-old loner obsessed with guns killed himself on Monday after storming his old school in western Germany with explosives strapped to his body and wounding 11 people.

Police found the teenage gunman's body lying in a smoke-filled classroom after he had run amok with two sawn-off shotguns, injuring a teacher, a caretaker and pupils.

Five of the wounded were in a serious but stable condition.

“We do not know whether the attacker died because of the explosives or whether he shot himself,” state prosecutor Wolfgang Schweer told reporters.

The gunman was named as Sebastian Bosse, a former student at the Scholl Geschwister high school in Emsdetten, near the Dutch border, who had announced the impending attack on his two Internet homepages.

“He was a loner who was severely unhappy with his life. The statements he made could be interpreted as pointing to a spectacular suicide,” Schweer said.

“He had two homepages and he also left behind a letter.” The websites, which were shut down by police following the attack, showed pictures of the black-haired teenager posing with rifles fitted with telescopic sights.

According to the n-tv news channel, Bosse had written on one of his home pages: “The only thing I learnt in school is that I am a loser. I hate people. They must all die.” Schweer said the caretaker, who was shot in the stomach, and four students -- three boys and girl -- suffered serious gunshot wounds but their lives were not in danger.

Sixteen policeman were also injured, when the gunman ran into the grounds of the school wearing a black gas mask and started shooting, Schweer said.

The teacher and caretaker were injured while stopping him.

The police chief in the nearby town of Muenster, Hubert Wimber, said Bosse then holed up in a room on the second floor of the school building and set off several smoke bombs.—AFP