Schoolboy, 13, arrested after 'stabbing pupil three times in classroom'

A fellow pupil said the 14-year-old victim was stabbed twice in the chest and once in the armpit. He was taken to hospital and is said to be in a stable condition.

West Yorkshire Police were called to Allerton Grange School, in Moortown, Leeds, just before 9.30am after reports of the stabbing.

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Police officers sealed off the class to await a forensic examination.

Shocked pupils were quickly moved out of the room and parts of the school were cleared. Anxious parents gathered at the school gates as they heard the news about the stabbing.

A number of police cars were parked in the school car park and a cordon had been created around the school reception area with blue marker tape.

The 13-year-old was arrested in connection with the incident and is currently in police custody, a police spokeswoman said. One unconfirmed report said that the boy who had been stabbed was also of Somalian origin.

A police spokeswoman said: "At this stage, there is no suggestion that the incident was racially motivated."

But one pupil told The Yorkshire Post that the injured pupil had been stabbed in a revenge attack in the school's D-block.

"He had done it because he got bullied," they said. "It was revenge."

Richard Morris, chairman of governors at Allerton Grange, released a statement, which said: "The school is calm, lessons are proceeding as normal and we can reassure families that it is a safe environment for their children.

"Police are on site and do not anticipate any further incidents. Our thoughts and hopes are focused on the young person in hospital."

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Allerton Grange is described on its website as a "thriving, all-ability, multicultural school" with 1,690 students from both inner-city and suburban areas.

An Ofsted report in October 2004 found it was a "good and effective school which is exceptionally inclusive".