The incidents appear to be "as a result of fighting among rival criminal groups", Police said in a press release yesterday.

The release said that at about 01:40 hrs yesterday, the bodies of two men, with their heads cleanly shaven, were discovered lying in an alleyway in the vicinity of Friendship main road.

It said gunshot wounds were evident at the backs of their heads and on other parts of their bodies.

One of the men, who was about five feet tall and brown in complexion, was clad in a white T-shirt, cream short pants and was barefooted, Police said.

The other man, who was also barefooted, was wearing a multi-coloured jersey and blue short pants, was five feet, two inches tall, and dark in complexion.

Police said the bodies are at a funeral parlour awaiting identification.

And two bodies were discovered in the cane field aback Eastville Housing Scheme, Annandale, East Coast Demerara yesterday morning.

Police said the bodies were of a medium-built male of mixed race, about five feet, seven inches tall, and a male of African descent, six feet, brown in complexion and sporting a Rasta hairstyle.

Both were without shirts and clad in black jeans and black boots.

Police said the body of the male of mixed race bore a "gaping wound to the neck" and what appeared to be burn marks on his left hand.

The body of the Rasta man was partly burnt and his eyes were missing, Police reported.

HOUSE DESTROYED
Investigations are also being conducted into a fire of unknown origin which completely destroyed a one-flat wooden house located at Lot 60 Pike Street, Kitty, Georgetown around 22:25 hrs Friday.

Police said that initial reports indicated that "gunfire preceded the start of the fire" in which no one was injured.

Two nearby buildings were also scorched in the blaze.

TAXI DRIVER BEATEN
Police also reported an incident in which four armed men held up the driver of a Comfort Zone taxi that was about to do a pick up on Friday night.

The men, who were armed with handguns, held up the driver of motor car HA 7569 at Lot 18 Craig Street, Campbellville around 23:50 hrs.

Police said the men allegedly drove up in a Ceres motorcar (colour and number unknown), and ordered the taxi driver out of his car at gunpoint.

He was dealt several blows about his body before the men drove away in his car, which was later found abandoned in Bel Air, Georgetown.

CAR TORCHED
And investigations are under way into the circumstances leading to the torching of a white Toyota AE 100, PHH 5159, at Dennis and Middleton Streets, Campbellville, Georgetown.

At about 01:15 hrs yesterday, a man in the vicinity said he heard four loud explosions, Police said. On checking, he saw the vehicle engulfed in flames and two men entering an unknown car, which drove away, Police said.

The fire was extinguished by the Fire Service, which was summoned.

DEACON SHOT
And in another incident, an 87-year-old Deacon of the Seventh Day Adventist Church at Friendship, East Coast Demerara, was shot by an unknown gunman around 07:00 hrs yesterday when he was about to enter the church building, Police said.

The Deacon is nursing a gunshot wound to the groin and receiving treatment at the Georgetown Public Hospital, they reported.