A cook was raped Tuesday morning in the Rome school where she works, sources said Tuesday evening.
The woman, who has not been named, said a "foreigner" came up from behind while she was preparing the kids' lunch, threatened her with a kitchen knife, robbed her and then raped her, the sources said.
He then locked her up in a store room, from which she phoned the school head some time afterwards and was freed.
The man came in and out of the school, a large institute run by Franciscan nuns which teaches children from nursery age to middle school, by a back entrance, sources said.
The victim was taken to hospital.
A manhunt has been launched.
The private school is in the Torrino area, on the southern outskirts of the Italian capital.
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