A MAN HAS been detained after shooting dead nine people in a drunken dispute at a weekend cottage in a village outside Moscow, Russian investigators said.

The alleged assailant gunned down five men and four women after a drinking session on Saturday night turned violent in the village of Redkino, some 110 kilometres northwest of Moscow, the Investigative Committee said.

“During the get-together there was a domestic dispute between the guests, after which the suspect left and then returned with a hunting rifle,” investigators said in a statement, adding that the man had been “drinking spirits”.

“He fired several shots, as a result of which at least nine people died,” investigators said, raising the death toll by one from figures given earlier Sunday morning.

Investigators said the shooter, a 45-year-old resident of Moscow, was detained on suspicion of mass murder after survivors managed to call the police.

- © AFP 2017

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