SYDNEY: Two police officers were among three people killed in a shooting in the Australian state of Queensland, authorities said on Monday, and a hunt for the offenders was underway.

Queensland Police ordered residents of the remote rural community of Wieambilla, about 270 kilometres (170 miles) west of the state capital Brisbane, to remain indoors until further notice while they hunted the killer or killers.

Australia has some of the toughest gun laws in the world, imposed after a mass shooting at Port Arthur in the southern state of Tas­mania in 1996 in which a lone gunman killed 35 people.

“Terrible scenes in Wieambilla and a heartbreaking day for the families and friends of the Queensland Police officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Twitter.

Police were called to the Wieambilla property on Monday afternoon in response to a missing person report from neighbouring New South Wales, Australian news reports said. A man from a neighbouring farm also arrived after seeing a fire at the property when the shooting began.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2022