Georgian gunman kills 13 at Baku academy

BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 30 (UPI) -- A Georgian national killed at least 13 people Thursday at the State Oil Academy in Azerbaijan before taking his own life, officials said.

The Interior Ministry identified the shooter as Farda Gadyrov and described him as born in 1980 and a Georgian of Azerbaijan descent, the Russian RIA Novosti news agency reported.

The Georgian ambassador to Baku said the gunman's nationality had been confirmed.

Officials said Gadyrov shot a janitor and a security guard as he entered the building and then went up a staircase, firing at students apparently at random, and wounding at least 11. He was armed with a Makarov pistol.

The dead included students from Syria and Turkey as well as Azerbaijan, officials said.

The oil academy has a long history and attracts students from around the region and the Mideast. Its alumni include Lavrenty Beria, who headed the Soviet secret police and was executed in 1953 in the power struggle after Stalin's death, and Vagit Alekperov, head of the Russian oil giant Lukoil.

President Ilkham Aliyev will head an investigation into the shooting, Azerbaijani officials said.