Guyanese soldiers and police fanned out in the jungles surrounding this bullet-pockmarked township on Monday, searching for gunmen who killed 12 in the second massacre blamed on gangs in recent weeks.
As security forces took up positions outside Bartica, townspeople mourned the victims, who included three police officers surprised in their station. Nine civilians also died in Sunday night's deadly attack.
The normally bustling enclave was a virtual ghost town on Monday.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the rampage in the town of 15,000 people, where miners buy supplies before heading into Guyana's interior to search for gold and diamonds.
The men armed with assault rifles invaded the town's police station and made off with a cache of ammunition and weapons after killing the police officers.
Witnesses said they fired indiscriminately for about an hour while people hid in their homes.
"I am still hearing those shots in my ears," said Inspector Mike Sutton, who said that he heard the men kick open the station doors and start spraying bullets.
Arshraf Ali, an uncle of 23-year-old shooting victim Haseeb Ali, said he saw a few townspeople being shot with their hands raised in surrender.
The killers also shot five people sleeping in hammocks.
Ali's mother, Fazeela Ali, recalled him as a dutiful son, who put a professional career on hold to captain a river boat.
"He put aside his [university] certificates to become the breadwinner of our family," she said, tears streaming down her face.
The Sunday night massacre came just three weeks after gunmen attacked the coastal village of Lusignan, killing six adults and five children.
Alleged gang leader Rondell Rawlins -- the country's most-wanted man, who is implicated in the 2006 assassination of Agriculture Minister Satyadeo Sawh -- has claimed responsibility for the Jan. 26 killings in Lusignan. He has threatened more assaults if his pregnant girlfriend is not returned.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese