UAE strongly condemns shooting incident in Montenegro

The United Arab Emirates has strongly condemned the shooting incident in Montenegro in an area northwest of the capital, Podgorica, which resulted in multiple deaths and injuries to dozens of innocent people.

In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) affirmed that the UAE expresses its strong condemnation of these criminal acts and its permanent rejection of all forms of violence aimed at undermining security and stability.

The Ministry expressed its solidarity with the government and people of Montenegro, and with the families of the victims of this heinous criminal attack, as well as its wishes for a speedy recovery for all the injured.

Earlier on Thursday, a man shot dead 12 people in a rampage in a small town in Montenegro before dying from self-inflicted wounds, authorities said, in one of the Balkan nation's worst mass killings.

The attacker, named by police as 45-year-old Aleksandar Aco Martinovic, initially killed four people when he opened fire after a brawl at a restaurant in Cetinje on Wednesday afternoon.

He then shot dead eight people, including two children, at three other locations, prosecutor Andrijana Nastic said. The victims had close links to the gunman, police said. "All the victims were his godfathers, friends ... the motive is still unknown," national police director Lazar Scepanovic said.

WAM / Reuters