Czech restaurant shooting

The channel Ceska Televize reported that an armed man burst into the restaurant and opened fire at 1 p.m. local time, shooting dead up to nine people.

The news agency CTK, quoting Interior Minister Milan Chovanec, said eight victims had been killed. The suspected shooter was also dead, its report said.

The motive for the shooting was not immediately known. Europe is on edge after jihadist attacks in Paris in January and Copenhagen earlier this month.

Such incidents are very rare in the Czech Republic, a central European Union nation of 10.5 million.

Czech media said Chovanec was heading to Uhersky Brod, which lies 300 km (180 miles) southeast of Prague, near the Czech border with Slovakia.

Chovanec reportedly identified the crime scene as the Droujba (Friendship) restaurant.

Associated Press quoted the town's mayor, Patrik Kuncar, as saying that the suspect, a man aged around 60, was among the dead.

Mental health factor?

The mayor also claimed the suspected gunman was believed to be mentally unstable.

"I have been conveyed information that it was a 60-year-old local man, probably mentally unstable," Kuncar told Czech television.

The assailant fired up to 25 rounds from two handguns in the restaurant, the mayor said, adding that the killing appeared to be an "isolated incident."

"We have various anti-terrorist measures but we can see that, here, probably a lone shooter struck with no warning," Kuncar said.

An eyewitness told Czech television he had seen around 10 police cars arrive and police putting on bulletproof vests.

Uhersky Brod has a population of about 18,000 residents.

ipj/gsw (Reuters, AFP, AP)