Day of mourning for Finland shooting victims

Police today named the gunman as Matti Juhani Saari, a trainee chef aged 22. He used a handgun and petrol bombs on his fellow pupils at a vocational college in Kauhajoki town, then fatally shot himself in the head.

Police said the dead were eight female students, a male student and a male teacher. Another female student was wounded.

Some of the dead were badly burned by fires Saari started, making identification difficult.

Vanhanen said he was "very critical about the guns and during the next few months we will make a decision about it".

Today has been declared a day of mourning in Finland. The country's main national daily newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, replaced its usual front-page advertisement with a large picture of a woman placing a candle at a memorial in front of the school. Above a picture of the gunman ran the headline "Why?"

The massacre, and a similar one last year, have led to calls for a review of gun laws.

Finland, a nation with a deep-rooted hunting tradition, ranks in the top five in the world for civilian gun ownership. There are roughly 1.6 million firearms in private hands in a population of about 5 million.

"We must considerably tighten [gun controls]," Vanhanen said. "We should consider whether to allow these small arms for private citizens at home. They belong on firing ranges."