WASHINGTON, June 1: The US capital, once known as the murder capital of the world, experienced an overnight spasm of violence on Saturday with seven men dead and three wounded, including a triple slaying.

All the murders happened within 9 hours, media reports and police said. The triple-murder followed a street argument. A drive-by shooting near an elementary school claimed one life. Another life ended in a domestic dispute. A man was found dead in his car with his throat slit open. And a gambling dispute ended in a fusillade of bullets.

All the killings occurred within a two-mile radius in Northeast and Southeast Washington, in neighbourhoods ranging from working-class to poor.

The weekend slayings pushed the capital city’s homicide toll to 72 for this year. Five of the killings took place in a neighbourhood home to 10 per cent of the city’s population. As many as 12 people have been killed and 38 robbed in this district in March and April.

A report published in 1998, described the US capital as a city with the greatest number of police officers per capita in the US and the highest murder rate of any large city in the world.

The situation has greatly improved since then but murders, robberies and muggings are still common in some Washington neighbourhoods.