Guatemala City, Sep 13 (IANS/EFE): A man who walked into a school in the northern Guatemalan village of Tactic and murdered two children was killed by teachers and locals, media reports said Wednesday.

"The children died with their throats slit, while the alleged aggressor died of a lynching after being beaten by the mob and burned alive," fire rescue spokesman Sergio Vasquez told reporters.

Witnesses said that Julio Saquil, 40, entered the school without saying a word and attacked two students with a machete.

Authorities identified the slain students as Evelyn Yanisa Saquij Bin, 8, and Juan Armando Coy Cal, 13.

An intended third victim managed to flee and alert teachers and Tactic residents, who rushed in, seized the aggressor and killed him, Vasquez said.

"...Saquil was found inside one of the classrooms, where he was beaten and burned by the mob," the spokesman said.

Vigilante justice as a widespread phenomenon in Guatemala dates from the 1996 signing of peace accords that ended the country's 36-year civil war.

The absence of police in isolated communities and pervasive distrust of the judicial system are the main reasons for the rising number of lynchings in the Central American nation, analysts say.