The national turmoil prompted a political announcement in Serbia. That of the head of state Aleksandar Vucic, who promised Friday, May 5, a vast disarmament plan after two killings committed in less than two days in the small Balkan country, where hundreds of thousands of firearms circulate.

The two shootings, in which a total of 17 people died, horrified the Serbs. Their president promised to drastically reduce the number of legally held weapons and to tackle the problem of illegal weapons with a view to achieving the "almost complete disarmament of Serbia".

"This is an attack on our entire country and all citizens feel it," the head of state told the nation. The government said in a statement that it wanted to "reduce by 90% the number of small arms held by individuals and companies". The Interior Ministry will also "launch a public appeal to holders of illegal weapons and explosive devices to hand them over (to the authorities) within a month without risk of prosecution".

A country in shock

Aleksandar Vucic's promise comes after the arrest on Friday (May 5th) of a man suspected of killing eight people and wounding at least 14 others.

This second shooting, in a country already in a state of shock after the massacre committed Wednesday, May 3 in a Belgrade school, took place around midnight in three villages near Mladenovac, about sixty kilometers south of the capital. A 21-year-old suspect opened fire on the victims from a moving car, according to state broadcaster RTS.

A long hunt ensued, involving about 600 law enforcement officers, including members of a special anti-terrorism unit.

"After an extensive manhunt, members of the Interior Ministry arrested U.B., born in 2002," the Interior Ministry said. "He is suspected of killing ... eight people and to have injured fourteen others," according to the same source, which specifies that all those injured are hospitalized.

Terror

Authorities said the suspect was arrested near the central Serbian town of Kragujevac, about 90 km from the scene of the killings.

The man was found at a relative's home after taking a taxi driver hostage who then alerted authorities, according to President Vucic. He was in possession of a large quantity of weapons and ammunition, including four grenades and a Kalashnikov.

The tragedy came less than two days after the worst mass school shooting in recent Balkan history: a 13-year-old student killed nine people, eight children and a guard, at a school in central Belgrade on Wednesday.

Pope Francis said he was "deeply saddened" by the two incidents in a telegram in Serbian sent by the Vatican's number two. "His holiness is united by the spirit to the human pain of those who mourn the death of innocent victims."

The terror was palpable in Serbia, where thousands of residents flocked to makeshift memorial sites to pay their respects to the victims. Others lined up to donate blood.

The second incident began in a schoolyard in the village of Dubona, where the assailant opened fire, killing several people, including an off-duty policeman and his sister.

He then shot people in two other villages, Malo Orasje and Sepsin, before fleeing, according to RTS. "We heard gunshots in the evening, but I thought it was fireworks, children were having fun. I couldn't even imagine that such a thing was happening," Dubona resident Zvonko Mladenovic told AFP.

Chants interrupted by a shooting

He said his cousin's granddaughter was among the victims. "She came to visit her grandfather. This is where the young people used to hang out and... she was shot in the head," Mladenovic said. "First the children in Belgrade and now this."

Slobodan Nikolic, another Dubona resident, said a group of youths were singing on a bench before the shooting. An AFP photographer saw traces of blood around a bench in the village.

Concerned relatives gathered outside a Belgrade medical center, where at least eight injured people were hospitalized, according to N1 television.

As a result of the school massacre, Serbia begins Friday, May 5, three days of national mourning at a time when people normally celebrate the arrival of spring by storming terraces and parks.

Mass killings are extremely rare in Serbia and Aleksandar Vucic lamented "one of the most difficult days in contemporary history" of the country.

A large number of firearms have been circulating in the Balkans since the break-up of the former Yugoslavia and the bloody wars of the 1990s. Some 765,000 weapons, including more than 232,000 pistols, are legally registered in the country of less than seven million people where shooting ranges are popular.

In April 2013, a villager shot dead 13 people, including family members and neighbours, near Mladenovac.

With AFP

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