A Russian National Guard officer has killed four fellow servicemen at a military base in the southern Russian region of Chechnya. The shooter was subsequently gunned down.

“A first lieutenant of the Russian National Guard has fatally wounded four of his fellow officers,” the National Guard’s press service told the Russian media, adding that the incident took place about 4:00pm local time (1:00pm GMT).

A military prosecutor’s office has launched an inquiry into the incident. There was no information immediately available about the shooter’s motive.

A similar incident took place in late September in Russia’s Far East. At that time, a Dagestan-born soldier killed three fellow servicemen with an automatic rifle, attempted to flee and was later shot down by an counter-terrorism unit.

The defense ministry said that the September shooting incident could have been a result of the serviceman suffering a nervous breakdown.

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