Montenegro attack: 12 shot dead including two children after gunman goes on horror rampage - where is the country located?

The suspect was identified as 45-year-old Aleksandar Martinovic. Montenegro's interior minister Danilo Saranovic said Martinovic killed the owner of the bar, the bar owner's children and his own family members, before going on the run.

Police dispatched a special unit to search for the attacker in the town on Wednesday (1 January). All the roads in and out of the city were blocked as officers swarmed the streets. The interior minister later said that the gunman had died after taking his own life near his home in Cetinje, which is about 18 miles northwest of the capital Podgorica.

Mr Saranovic told state broadcaster RTCG that Martinovic died while he was being transported to hospital. Police told the broadcaster that he had suffered a head wound.

President Jakov Milatovic said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that he was "shocked and stunned" by the mass shooting. He wrote: "Instead of holiday joy... we have been gripped by sadness over the loss of innocent lives."

Police commissioner Lazar Scepanovic said Martinovic was at the bar throughout the day with other guests when the brawl erupted. He said the suspect then went home, brought back a weapon and opened fire at around 5.30pm. The police chief said he killed four people at the bar and then continued shooting at three more locations.

The suspect is believed to have been handed a suspended sentence in 2005 for violent behaviour and had appealed his latest conviction for illegal weapons possession. RTCG reported that he was known for erratic and violent behaviour.

Montenegro is a Balkan country with rugged mountains, medieval villages and a narrow strip of beaches along its Adriatic coastline. It is bounded by the Adriatic Sea and Croatia (southwest), Bosnia and Herzegovina (northwest), Serbia (northeast), Kosovo (east), and Albania (southeast).