WASHINGTON, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Five teenagers aged between 16 and 10 were killed Saturday morning in a street shooting in the southern U.S. city of New Orleans, Louisiana, CNN Television reported.

    In one of the worst crimes in the city's recent memory, a 16-year-old, a 17-year-old and three 19-year-olds were found dead before dawn on a street in the Central City neighborhood and their bodies were surrounded by handgun shell casings, according to the report.

    Police said the shooting was apparently aimed for retaliation or was related to illicit drugs, though no weapons or drugs were found on the bodies of the victims.

    Jonh Bryson, a police spokesman in New Orleans, said the police are looking for one or more suspects but did not go into details.

    The identities of the five victims have not been immediately released.

    Although New Orleans had a history of high crime rates, there have been few crimes since the city was hit by Hurricane Katrina last August and the present population is less than half of its pre-storm level. Enditem