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Five shot dead in mass killing in Cyprus

23 June 2012 18:17 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Five people were shot dead in a mass killing in a crowded popular Cyprus sea resort of Ayia Napa, police said on Saturday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The unprecedented incident sent shockwaves through the eastern Mediterranean island’s society, which has been threatened by rising crime among members of rival gangs active in running night clubs and illegal betting.

The mafia-style ambush is also bound to cause concern to the authorities about the image of Cyprus, as it prepares to take up the European Union rotating presidency on July 1 and receive several hundred European Union officials over the next six months.

Police said the five men, three local people and two men from Romania were intercepted at dawn Saturday while driving in the center of southeastern Ayia Napa and were sprayed with bullets at close range.

They said all victims received head injuries. Four men died on the spot and one on his way to a local hospital.

According to sources, four of the five were employed as security guards by a businessman running several night spots and illegal on-line casinos in Ayia Napa.

Police officials said on condition of anonymity that they suspected the killings were meant to be a warning by a rival gang to their employer not to extend his on-line casino business beyond the Ayia Napa area.