GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP):
About 10 men with automatic weapons stormed Guyana's largest newspaper, killing at least six people and wounding three in an attack that may be linked to a simultaneous protest at the South American nation's main prison, authorities said yesterday.
The gunmen attacked just before midnight Tuesday, ordering employees in the printing department of the Kaieteur News to lie on the floor before shooting them and fleeing, acting Police Chief Henry Greene said.
"We are launching a massive search for those who might be involved," Greene said. "We have called out many of our ranks from homes."
Authorities said there was no evidence of a robbery and the motive was unclear. The shootings come amid preparations for August 28 general elections in the former Dutch and British colony on South America's northeast coast.
A deliberate act
At the time of the attack, many police officers in the capital of Georgetown had been dispatched to quell a prison demonstration against overcrowding and a shortage of water, officials said.
"This is a deliberate act targeting the Kaieteur News," President Bharrat Jagdeo said. "We have to find out whether there is a link with what happened at the prison because it was going on at the same time."
The Kaieteur News, the country's highest-circulation daily, mainly covers crime and corruption.
"Perhaps we have hurt or touched people by things we have printed," said Glen Lall, the paper's owner and publisher.
Five of those killed were employees at the newspaper about five miles (eight kilometres) south of the capital. The sixth person killed was apparently a bystander shot in a neighbouring village, authorities said.
Three people, including a security guard at the newspaper plant, were hospitalised for non-life threatening injuries, police said. It was not clear whether the other two were newspaper employees.
Police are investigating at least 60 killings that have occurred this year in Guyana. Many are blamed on gangs, including the slaying of the agriculture minister and two of his siblings in April.
