The police responding to the attack encountered firing so intense that they struggled to tell how many gunmen were on the scene, an official said.

A gunman who killed 11 people, including himself, at an adult education centre in central Sweden may have been a student at the school, police said on Thursday, as they described chaotic scenes after the country's deadliest mass shooting as being like an "inferno".

Sweden is reeling days after the country’s deadliest mass shooting left at least 11 people dead, including the gunman, as investigators Thursday continued to look into the shooter's motive. At least five people were seriously wounded in the violence at an adult education center west of Stockholm on Tuesday.