Czech pub massacre: 9 dead after 60-year-old blasts drinkers with shotgun

Eight people and the gunman have been killed in a shooting incident in a pub in eastern Czech Republic, said the country's interior minister.

The gunman, who fired 24 rounds in the incident in the Družba pub in Uhersky brod, in eastern Moravia, is also dead, said interior minister Milan Chovanec.

The town's mayor told Czech Television that the killer, who may have been carrying two weapons including a shotgun, was a local man aged around 60, reports Radio Praha.

A man who was in the toilets of the pub when the shooting took place told local media that around 20 people were in the pub when the shooting took place at lunchtime.

"An unknown man pulled out a gun and began firing at people," pub owner Pavel Karlik told idnes.cz.

"At first, we believed it was only a gas gun, but when an injured woman ran out of the restaurant it was clear, " he said.

Mr Chovanec and the chief of the Czech police are on their way to the scene of the shooting, said a police spokesman.

The shooting are not believed to be terror related at this time, but the act of a "deranged individual" said Mr Chovanec earlier.

The town of Uhersky Brod is 300 km (180 miles) southeast of Prague.