<p>A man shot dead five people, including his wife, and injured another 20 in a cafe in northern Serbia early today, police said, with jealousy the suspected motive.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The man "entered the cafe and opened fire with an automatic rifle, killing his wife and another woman, then he continued to shoot at other citizens in the cafe," a police statement said.<br /><br />Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic visited the scene and was quoted by N1 television channel as saying that the weapon was illegal and jealousy was believed to be the motive.<br /><br />It is the third mass shooting in recent years in Serbia, which has tried to shrink the number of illegal weapons in circulation since the 1990s Balkan wars.<br /><br />The latest incident happened at about 1:40 am (2340 GMT Friday) in the town of Zitiste, around 80 kilometres north of Belgrade.<br /><br />Police arrested the alleged shooter, born in 1978 and named only by his initials ZS, and opened a probe into the killings.<br /><br />Stefanovic said the attacker tried to flee the scene, but police stopped and arrested him.<br /><br />"We are all shocked that something like this could happen, since this was a very quiet man who had no police record," he said according to the state-run Tanjug news agency.<br /><br />N1 channel reported that the attacker argued with his wife in the cafe, left the building and returned with a Kalashnikov-type rifle with which he opened fire.<br /><br />Two people were killed instantly, while three died after being taken to hospital in the nearby city of Zrenjanin, the channel's report said.<br /><br />The others wounded, some of them severely, were taken to various Serbian hospitals but were not in critical condition, reports said.<br /><br />Illegal gun ownership is widespread in Serbia and the rest of the former Yugoslavia.<br /><br />Police have previously said there could be several hundred thousand unregistered weapons in the country, including guns and grenades, remaining from the 1990s Balkan wars.<br /><br />The shooting spree came a day after the interior ministry launched a new drive to encourage owners of illegal weapons to hand them in to their local police stations.<br /><br />Such people "will not be held accountable for unauthorised buying and holding of weapons," the police announcement said yesterday. <br /><br /></p>
<p>A man shot dead five people, including his wife, and injured another 20 in a cafe in northern Serbia early today, police said, with jealousy the suspected motive.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The man "entered the cafe and opened fire with an automatic rifle, killing his wife and another woman, then he continued to shoot at other citizens in the cafe," a police statement said.<br /><br />Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic visited the scene and was quoted by N1 television channel as saying that the weapon was illegal and jealousy was believed to be the motive.<br /><br />It is the third mass shooting in recent years in Serbia, which has tried to shrink the number of illegal weapons in circulation since the 1990s Balkan wars.<br /><br />The latest incident happened at about 1:40 am (2340 GMT Friday) in the town of Zitiste, around 80 kilometres north of Belgrade.<br /><br />Police arrested the alleged shooter, born in 1978 and named only by his initials ZS, and opened a probe into the killings.<br /><br />Stefanovic said the attacker tried to flee the scene, but police stopped and arrested him.<br /><br />"We are all shocked that something like this could happen, since this was a very quiet man who had no police record," he said according to the state-run Tanjug news agency.<br /><br />N1 channel reported that the attacker argued with his wife in the cafe, left the building and returned with a Kalashnikov-type rifle with which he opened fire.<br /><br />Two people were killed instantly, while three died after being taken to hospital in the nearby city of Zrenjanin, the channel's report said.<br /><br />The others wounded, some of them severely, were taken to various Serbian hospitals but were not in critical condition, reports said.<br /><br />Illegal gun ownership is widespread in Serbia and the rest of the former Yugoslavia.<br /><br />Police have previously said there could be several hundred thousand unregistered weapons in the country, including guns and grenades, remaining from the 1990s Balkan wars.<br /><br />The shooting spree came a day after the interior ministry launched a new drive to encourage owners of illegal weapons to hand them in to their local police stations.<br /><br />Such people "will not be held accountable for unauthorised buying and holding of weapons," the police announcement said yesterday. <br /><br /></p>