Mozambican women are faced with with a rising cost of living as they work to provide for their families. (Photo Courtesy David Gough/IRIN)

Police opened fire on demonstrators in Maputo marching against rising prices in the capital of Maputo, killing at least six people including two children.

On Thursday, police patrolled the streets of Maputo, one day after riots shook the capital, over the rising prices of oil, wheat and bread.

A police spokesperson reported that 27 people had been wounded when police opened fire on the demonstrators. Six people were also reported dead according to police and medical sources.

One of the dead was a 12-year-old boy shot in the head and left in a pool of blood in the street, a school textbook resting beside him, an AFP correspondent said.

Police said the police had opened fire on the demonstrators after they ran out of rubber bullets.

Yesterday, protesters ransacked shops and barricaded the streets of the capital in the worst violence to shake the country since riots in 2008 over rising prices.