Five people dead and around a dozen wounded in Kraków shooting

FIVE PEOPLE WERE killed and around a dozen wounded in a shooting in Poland’s second city of Kraków on Saturday, police told AFP.

“A man drove a car onto Krakow’s main square and began shooting at random people,” a Krakow police spokesman said.

“As a result of the incident, five people were killed and around a dozen others were wounded,” a Kraków police spokesman said, adding that the gunman was “neutralised” by police officers and transported to hospital.

A “tragic shooting” took place in Poland’s second-largest city, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in a post on X.

“I am being kept informed by the Minister of the Interior about the situation in Kraków following the tragic shooting,” he wrote, adding that “the police are investigating the background and all the circumstances of the attack”.

Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki said he was “deeply concerned by reports of the tragic events in central Kraków”.

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“My thoughts are with the victims, those injured and their families,” he wrote on X.

“I remain in contact with the relevant authorities and expect a full explanation of the circumstances

“The head of the National Security Bureau is on his way to Kraków. The safety of Poles is an absolute priority,” he added.

Police did not immediately advance any potential motives for the gunman.

Shootings are rare in Poland, an EU and Nato member on the alliance’s eastern flank that neighbours Ukraine.

The country was on high alert following a series of stabbings in October, which Tusk at the time denounced as part of a “cult of violence”.

Warsaw, a staunch ally of Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, has repeatedly warned of Russian sabotage and hybrid warfare on Polish soil, accusations rejected by Moscow.