Two Killed In Attack On Roma Houses In Hungary

The unknown attackers also threw firebombs at the homes. Police said the motive for the attack was not yet known.

Two Roma people were shot dead in an attack on two houses in a Hungarian village on Monday, politician Viktoria Mohacsi, an advocate of Roma rights, said.

Police said they were investigating the attack in the village of Nagycsecs in northeastern Hungary in which a 43-year-old man and a woman, 40, were killed by shots fired through a window.

Police did not say the victims were Roma, but Mohacsi, a Free Democrat Member of the European Parliament and a Hungarian of Roma origin, said the attack was on Roma families living on the outskirts of the village.

The unknown attackers also threw firebombs at the homes. Police said the motive for the attack was not yet known.

Mohacsi, who visited the village on Monday, demanded police carry out a swift inquiry into the attack and similar attacks on Roma communities in the recent past.

"I hope the death of two people will finally prompt the authorities to show responsibility in examining racist motivation," Mohacsi told Reuters.

Justice Minister Tibor Draskovics said a special investigation unit would be set up to handle the case.

Hungary has one of the largest Roma communities in eastern Europe, accounting for 5-7 percent of the population of 10 million.

Attacks on Roma families have increased this year. In June, firebombs were thrown at three Roma houses in Patka, west of Budapest. In July, shots were fired at three Roma houses in Galgagyork, a village near Budapest, state news agency MTI reported. No one was injured.