Nine die in Finland after YouTube post

By Sami Torma

TUUSULA, Finland (Reuters) - Seven children and a head teacher were killed when a pupil opened fire at a school in southern Finland on Wednesday, hours after he posted a video on YouTube foreshadowing a massacre there.

The 18-year-old, who walked through the corridors of Jokela High School firing into classroom after classroom with a .22-caliber handgun, died later in hospital after shooting himself in the head, his doctor said.

"Five boys, two girls and one adult woman were killed," police chief Matti Tohkanen told a news conference.

He later identified the woman as the principal of the school in Tuusula municipality, a town of 35,000 some 60 km (40 miles) from Helsinki.

The YouTube video, set to a hard-driving song called "Stray Bullet" by the industrial rock band KMFDM, shows a still photo of a low building that appears to be Jokela High School.

The photo breaks apart to reveal a red-tinted picture of a man pointing a handgun at the camera.

"He (the gunman) was moving systematically through the school hallways, knocking on the doors and shooting through the doors," said Kim Kiuru, who was teaching a grade 8 class when the shooting began.

"It felt unreal, a pupil I have taught myself was running towards me, screaming, a pistol in his hand."