BIELEFELD. Germany. Nov 10: A gunman shot dead seven Turks, four women and three men. in an apartment in the west German town of Bielefeld on Tuesday after one of the men rejected the killer's proposal to marry his daughter, police said, reports Reuters.

They said the victims were from Germany’s large Turkish community and were possibly ethnic Kurds. They added the suspect, himself also believed to be of Turkish nationality, was currently on the run.

Police said they were called to the scene late on Tuesday evening after neighbours heard shots coming the apartment, within a six-story block in which around 50 people lived.

"We are hunting the suspect, but we have no idea where ne is at the moment.” said a police spokesman in Bielefeld, some 130 km northeast of the Rhineland town of Dortmund.

The victims are Turks, and, we believe, ethnic Kurds although that is hard to confirm at this stage." he said.

I Ie added that the police did not expect to release more information on the incident before carrying out a post-mortem on the. bodies which'wnuld likely last into late morning. A news conference was planned later In the day.

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