Four Mounties die in shootout
Thursday, March 3, 2005 Posted: 9:59 PM EST (0259 GMT)




Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin condemned the brutal killing of four officers.

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) -- Four Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers were shot and killed during a raid on a marijuana-growing operation in rural Alberta Thursday, in one of the bloodiest days in the history of the national police force, a senior official said.

A suspect in the shootout that erupted inside a large farm building that police were investigating also died when he turned his rifle on himself, said Bill Sweeney, commanding officer of the RCMP in Alberta.