Brazzaville - A Rwandan refugee, who fired an automatic rifle at close range, shot dead his wife, two children and six neighbours before turning the gun on himself, police and witnesses said on Monday.
The gunman, identified by witnesses only as an ethnic Hutu named Habiarimana, went on the shooting spree with a Kalashnikov machine-gun near his home in the densely populated neighborhood of Poto Poto in Brazzaville, the Republic of Congo's capital.
Police confirmed the deaths and said an investigation was underway. Among the victims were an unidentified citizen of Chad, as well as the owner of Habiarimana's rented home and his wife and daughter.
Armed robberies, murders and other violent crimes involving a flood of illegal weapons have plagued Brazzaville since Republic of Congo dissident groups signed a peace accord with the government in late 1999, ending a two-year rebellion.
Tens of thousands of refugees from neighbouring Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo - formerly named Zaire - have taken shelter in Congo to escape wars in their home countries. Many of the Rwandan refugees in Congo are allegedly Hutu militants who participated in the 1994 Rwandan genocide in which more than 500 000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed. - Sapa-AP