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| Caribbean-Latin America | |
| Guyana gunmen kill 3 police, 9 civilians in attack | |
| 2008-02-19 | |
In an attack that was similar to a massacre in Guyana last month, a gang of about 15 men led the attack in the town of Bartica, 79 miles (127 km) from the capital of Georgetown, Tianna Persaud, a regional information officer, said on Monday. They also stole weapons, ammunition and a police vehicle, she said. Eight people wounded in the attack were airlifted to hospitals in Georgetown. The attack came just weeks after suspected gang leaders killed 11 people including sleeping women and children in a massacre that sparked angry protests and concerns of renewed ethic tensions between Guyanese of Indian and African descent in the former British colony. Police said it was too early to say if the two attacks were connected. The assailants also stole weapons from the homes of Bartica residents, using sledgehammers to break through concrete walls, the spokeswoman said. Police patrolled the streets of Bartica to maintain order. The violence is unusual in Bartica, a town at the edge of the Essequibo river often used by informal miners as a gateway to remote diamond and gold fields near the border with neighboring Venezuela. Guyana, South AmericaÂ’s only English-speaking country, is struggling to control violence by roving gangs often linked to drug trafficking. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |