Gunman kills five in disco rampage

GERMAN AND French police launched a cross-border manhunt yesterday after a gunman opened fire in a disco and killed at least five people. The victims are said to include a British woman and her French husband, who were shot dead in their home shortly after the attack at the nightclub.

German police said the man walked into the disco in the town of Dillingen, in south-west Germany, close to the border with France, at 4.30am yesterday and opened fire into a crowd of about 20 people on the dancefloor. An employee and a guest were among those killed immediately.

Thirty minutes later he broke into a nearby apartment, killing the Frenchman and his British wife and wounding their 11-year-old daughter.

Police in Germany and France started a hunt for the gunman, saying that the motive for the murders was unclear. About 100 French police officers and border guards as well as German criminal police were mobilised to try to apprehend the man, who is said to be aged about 40 and "extremely dangerous".

Roadblocks have been set up throughout the Lorraine region of eastern France, and a helicopter has been deployed. The man is said to have fled the scene of the attack in a Peugeot 106.

An international arrest warrant has been put out for the suspected killer.