Two Indians killed in Guyana attack
Chetram Persaud and Mark Maikoo were killed when 10 gunmen stormed into the printing press of Kaieteur News.
At least two Indo-Guyanese were among four people killed when gunmen barged into the printing press of a leading Guyanese newspaper.
Chetram Persaud, 46, Mark Maikoo, 22, and two others were killed on Tuesday night when 10 gunmen stormed into the printing press of Kaieteur News at Eccles in northwestern Guyana, reports said.
The other two have been identified as Eon Wigman and Richard Stuart. All were employees of the press.
Another Indo-Guyanese, Shazeem Mohammad, was stated to be in a critical condition after being shot in the head during the attack.
The Eccles attack was one of four almost simultaneous attacks, the others being at the communities of Buxton, East Bank Demerara and Bagotstown.
All these communities are in the county of Demerara, which also includes the capital Georgetown.
According to a report on the Kaieteur News website, a survivor of the printing press attack said the guard at the gate shouted "Gunmen coming".
The workers rushed to the back of the press room as the 10 gunmen descended on the Eccles operation.
After shooting at the guard, the attackers forced their way into the building. Two of three employees of the press who had hidden in the lavatory came out on being ordered by the gunmen.
Another came out of a locker room where he had taken refuge.
The attackers then made the men, in all five, lie face down and shot them one by one.
Prior to the attack at the Kaieteur news press, another man was killed when gunmen opened fire at Bagotstown.
According to another report, Guyana President Bharrat Jagdeo, who visited the Eccles press shortly after the attack, chaired an emergency meeting of the country's Defence Board on Wednesday.
Jagdeo described the killings as a big blow to the country especially during the run-up to general elections due in another three weeks.
Media organisations and various sections of the society across the Caribbean have expressed outrage at the attacks.
Kaieteur News publisher Glenn Lall, also an Indo-Guyanese, described the attackers as cowards and said the families of the victims would be compensated.
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