Tarime — A wedding party was thrown into disarray in Tarime district on Thursday night, when armed gangsters stormed a homestead and shot dead five people.

Six other people, including two children, were seriously injured in the attack that rocked Kimusi village, some 40 kilometres from Tarime Township.

However, the bride and bridegroom, whose big day had started on a brighter note, with hundreds of their relatives and other villagers enjoying the wedding ceremony, escaped unhurt. But the local police boss said the bride had been treated for shock.

The injured were admitted to Tarime district hospital, and one of them, who suffered several bullet wounds, was yesterday fighting for his life, the medical officer in charge, Dr Joyce Raymond, said.

Eyewitnesses said a gang of over 20 men wielding machine guns stormed into Mr Mwita Buruna's homestead at 11pm, and opened fire, as he was entertaining relatives, villagers and guests, who had attended his son's wedding. In a matter of minutes, the revelry abruptly ended, with wailing and mourning engulfing the home, as the five victims lay dead. The home was thrown into confusion, with frantic efforts being made to take the injured to hospital.

Villagers said the raiders took everybody by surprise when they entered the compound and indiscriminately opened fire at the people, some of whom were dancing, as others feasted on delicacies. With the burst of gunfire, the villagers dashed for cover, but bullets hit some of them, as they fled.

This is the second raid in Musoma Region in the recent past in which senseless killings of villagers have occurred. District commissioner Frank Uhahula, local MP Charles Mwera, and the members of the security team led by Tarime special police zone commander Constantine Massawe, visited the scene yesterday morning, as investigations into the incident began in earnest.

No suspects had been arrested but several bullet shells found at the scene, indicating that sub-machine guns were used. Some villagers linked the incident to the perennial cattle rustling menace among the rival local clans. The attackers, the police confirmed, made away with five head of cattle from the homestead.

Police boss Massawe said it was the second cattle- rustling incident within two days. On Wednesday, rustlers, who made away with 25 cattle from four different homes, shot a Mr Samson Chacha dead in Banyange village. Another villagers, Mr Marwa Mariba, also died on Wednesday in a similar attack at Kubiterere. Six cows were stolen.

The dead in the attack on the wedding revellers were identified as Ratare Makindi, 60, Wangwe Wambura, 56, Chacha Marwa, 21, and 70-year-old Matoka Sokoni.

The fifth, a woman whose name could not be established, died on admission to hospital.

Those recuperating in hospital were named as Chacha Makena, 19, Maria Wambura, Mosongo Kihura, 70, Mwikwabe Marwa, 70, and Robi Mahenda.

Yesterday, Mr Mwera and some local leaders called for a review of the strategy for combating crime. The Chadema politician said the incidence of crime had increased despite the creation of the special police zone. He said this was due to failure to apprehend some known armed robbers.

Some villagers accused members of the special zone of shunning their real mission and spending most of their time harassing taxi operators and smugglers along the border with Kenya.

Mr Uhahula called for calm, saying the police had launched investigations and would relentlessly pursue and arrest the suspects. He warned against any acts of retaliation among local clans.

The wedding attack comes barely a month following the macabre slaughter of 17 members of three families, including eight children, in Musoma. This was one of the most shocking incidents in the crime- prone region.

The attack in Buhare village, on the outskirts of Musoma municipality, saw a gang break into the victims' homes and butcher the victims using machetes and other crude weapons. The youngest of the victims in the attack, said to have been aimed at revenge over two killings in a 2006 theft, was four months old.

A man, who lost eight members of his family, is still in hospital in Mwanza. Three others were treated and discharged. Nine suspects linked to the Buhare attack were early this week charged with murder in a Musoma court.

On Tuesday night, angry villagers, also in retaliation, torched five houses in some of the suspects' homesteads.