Police say six heavily-armed men were responsible for a dozen murders in the mining town of Bartica, about 130 kilometres south of the nation's capital, Georgetown. Among the dead are three police officers, police said.
It was just three weeks ago that another shooting rampage in the country claimed the lives of 11 people, including five children. That killing occurred in Lusignan, a coastal village 16 kilometres from Georgetown.
Police believe Rondel Rawlins spearheaded that attack, and he has reportedly declared himself responsible for it. Rawlins is wanted for a series of murders including the April of 2006 assassination of Mississauga's Phulmattie Persaud and her brothers.
Rawlins, who police allege is the leader of a notorious street gang in Guyana, has accused officials of kidnapping his pregnant girlfriend and has vowed to wreak havoc until he has her back.
Police have offered a reward of more than $250,000 (CDN) for information that could lead to the arrest of Rawlins, who is Guyana's most wanted fugitive.
The Divisional Commander of the Guyana Police Force, Gavin Primo, told reporters his investigators are still trying to determine who spearheaded last night's deadly attack.
"Round-the-clock investigations are taking place to find those responsible," he said.
Persaud, along with her two brothers and a security guard, were gunned down execution-style on April 22, 2006. The main target of the killing was Persaud's younger brother, 50-year-old Satyadeow Sawh, a Canadian citizen who was Guyana's Agriculture Minister. He, along with the other three, were shot dead inside Sawh's home in East Coast Demerara, Guyana.
The government of Guyana issued a statement saying it believed the killing of Sawh and his siblings was an attempt to destabilize the country before upcoming elections.
Three other suspected assassins, including 24-year-old fugitive Anthony Heywood, have already been shot dead in confrontations with police over the past year.
Police have arrested and charged David Zammett and Jermaine Charles, 21, in connection with the killings.
A mother of two who worked for Scotiabank for nearly 30 years until she retired in 2005, Persaud was a giving person who gave hundreds of hours to local Hindu temples in Mississauga and across the GTA, her family here said.
She went to Guyana to mark the anniversary of her mother's death.
lrosella@mississauga.net
