At least 18 people were killed in Madagascar on Monday (29), when police opened fire on protesters enraged over the alleged kidnapping of an albino child, a doctor told AFP.

“So far, 18 people have died, nine at the scene and nine at the hospital,” said Tango Oscar Toky, chief physician of a hospital in southeastern Madagascar.

“Nine out of 34 injured are between life and death,” the doctor added. “We are waiting for a government helicopter to evacuate them to the capital,” he said.

The local gendarmerie reported that 11 people were killed in the incident.

Around 08:00 GMT (05:00 GMT), gunfire was heard in Ikongo in the southeast, 350 km from the capital. Since last week, the small population has been in shock with the disappearance of an albino child, which authorities have linked to a possible abduction.

In Madagascar, albino people are often subjected to violence. According to the United Nations, there have been more than a dozen kidnappings, assaults and murders of people with albinism in the past two years.

Police have arrested four suspects, but citizens are determined to take matters into their own hands.

They gathered outside the police barracks in the morning and demanded that the four suspects be handed over to them, Jean-Brunelle Razaintsiandraofa, his deputy in Ikongo, told AFP.

A police source told AFP that some had gathered at the scene with “empty guns” and “machetes”.

“There were negotiations, residents insisted,” the source said. Eventually the police decided to fire tear gas grenades to disperse the crowd and fired several shots.

However, residents tried to enter the barracks and said the police “had no choice but to defend themselves”.

Madagascar, a large island in the Indian Ocean, is one of the poorest countries in the world.