Up to 13 people may have been killed yesterday in a rampage by a gunman believed to be holding dozens of hostages at a civic centre in upstate New York, local radio reported.

"A dozen or more may have died in the last two hours," Bob Joseph, news director of local WNBF Radio in the town of Binghamton, told (NN, quoting sources.

Other reports said four were shot at the American Civic Association building, which helps new immigrants to the United States.

Reports said the gunman may have also taken between 20 and about 40 hostages in the civic centre in the small city located 217 kilometres northwest of New York city, near the border with Pennsylvania.

Police armed with automatic rifles surrounded the American Civic Association build- ing in Binghamton as officers carried out several stretchers, CNN television footage showed.

One person, who was clearly still alive, was seen on television beingstretchered out.

The local Press and Sun-Bulletin newspaper reported that at least four people were shot and that 41 hostages were in the building - 15 in a closet and 26 in the boiler room.

According to Joseph, the gunman was believed to have parked a car so that it blocked the back door of the civic center, preventing escape.

Television images showed crowds of anxious people gathered in the area of the civic center.

I he centre's website said it assists immigrants and refugees with immigration and personal counseling, resettlement, citizenship, family reunification, interpreters, and translators

The shooting came just days after a heavily-armed man burst into a North Carolina nursing home on Sunday killing eight people.