BRITAIN: Two young women were shot dead and two were injured following a dispute at a New Year party in a hairdresser's salon.
Two victims were 18-year-old twin sisters who were enjoying festivities with around 30 revellers at Uniseven Studios in Birmingham.
One died and the other survived.
Detectives are considering the possibility that there was an exchange of gunfire between two rival groups.
The four young black women, all local to the area, were among a group who had stepped outside the rear of the ground-floor salon in Birchfield Road, Aston, to cool off because of the heat inside when they were hit by a hail of bullets.
Police began a murder inquiry, describing the shootings as "exceptional in their brutality" and "unprecedented".
The alarm was raised by a member of the public who heard a considerable number of shots being fired shortly after 4 a.m.
Officers and paramedics tried in vain to save the lives of one of the twins and a 17-year-old, who were lying on the ground. The other twin and another 17-year-old were taken to hospital with non-life- threatening injuries. One underwent surgery.
British police have appealed for a man wanted in connection with a gruesome double murder in north London to give himself up and said they feared for the safety of a third missing woman.
Detectives said named Anthony John Hardy as someone they wanted to question in connection with the murders of two women whose dismembered body parts were found in rubbish bags by a tramp rummaging through bins for food on Monday.
Police issued pictures of Hardy, which suggested he had recently changed his appearance by shaving off his beard, and urged him to come forward.