Japanese teenager bombs classmates
Police in Japan are questioning an 18-year-old student today about why he threw a home-made bomb into a high school classroom, wounding 58 teenagers.
The boy told police he made the explosive using instructions found on the internet and had planned the attack because his “pride had been hurt” repeatedly by other students and that he “had a grudge.”
One male student was seriously injured with cuts to his legs and abdomen, and another student broke his finger in the attack yesterday at Hikari public high school in Yamaguchi prefecture. The other injuries were minor.
Police said the boy fashioned the bomb from a glass bottle filled with a combination of gunpowder and other substances.
The more severe injuries were caused by several dozen nails which were stuffed into the bottle along with gunpowder stripped from firecrackers and connected to a crude fuse.
Investigators uncovered evidence indicating the suspect had also been building a second bomb.
The suspect was arrested soon after the attack on charges of assault. But police have not ruled out the possibility of raising that charge to attempted murder.
School officials described the boy as quiet, courteous and a conscientious student who never skipped class and had an academic record “above average.” But they also described a loner who was often bullied since middle school and was extremely withdrawn.
