Five persons are now nursing gunshot wounds after heavily armed men opened fire on a bus in which they were travelling in Central Village, St. Catherine Saturday.

Those injured include the conductor and a driver.

The incident occurred on Saturday morning.

RJR News understands that the bus was travelling from Kingston when a passenger signalled the driver to stop in Central Village.

The driver complied and seven men opened fire on the bus, hitting the crew and passengers.

The driver in a panic to escape drove off, lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a fence.

The occupants were taken to hospital.

The driver sustained more wounds than the passengers.

The shooting is believed to be a reprisal for an incident Friday in which three men boarded a bus and on reaching Central Village they attempted to rob the conductor of that bus.

The robbery attempt was foiled when the men were challenged by the conductor.

Two of them escaped, the third robber engaged the conductor in a fight.

He lost his balance and the bus ran over him killing him.

That man has not been identified.