Gunmen Attack Guyana Newspaper Offices, Killing at Least 6

By: Gunmen with automatic weapons stormed Guyana's largest newspaper late Tuesday, killing at least six people and wounding three in an attack that may have been connected to a simultaneous protest at the South American nation's main prison, authorities said. The gunmen attacked just before midnight, ordering employees in the printing department of the Kaieteur News to lie on the floor before shooting them and fleeing the area, acting Police Chief Henry Greene said Wednesday.

"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 they did not yet know a motive. The shooting comes amid preparations for Aug. 28 general elections in the former Dutch and British colony on the northeast coast of South America.

At the time of the attack, many police officers in the capital of Georgetown had been dispatched to quell a demonstration by prisoners protesting 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 newspaper's owner, Glen Lall, called the attackers "a bunch of cowards" and said he also did not know of any motive for the attack.

Five of those killed were employees at the newspaper about 5 miles south of the capital. The sixth man killed was apparently a bystander who was shot near the building, officials said.