BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – Prime Minister David Thompson has called on citizens to “pause and pray” on Friday as the island remembers the six persons killed during the fire caused by bandits at a clothing store in the capital last weekend.

In a statement, Thompson has requested that all activity on the island, including speech and movement of individuals and vehicular traffic, come to a standstill at noon for three minutes, as the country reflects on “this most dastardly incident”.

The blaze at Campus Trendz Clothing Store lasted more than four hours and the authorities believe that those who were killed had gone to the back of the building to escape the inferno.

According to the police, two robbers in view of shocked customers threw an incendiary device into the store after taking an undisclosed amount of cash. Prime Minister Thompson said that he shared the pain, sadness and outrage of all Barbadians, and has placed the full support of his government at the

disposal of the Royal Barbados Police Force to “crack this case and bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice”.

He noted that in many respects what was needed was enforcement of the law, and this would be the focus of the emergency meeting.

Former prime minister Owen Arthur has already called for stiff penalties for persons responsible for the deadly fire at the clothing store over the weekend.

“When somebody could throw a cocktail in a building where other Barbadians are, we have to call it what it is – modern terrorism – and they must face the full measure and full full weight (of the law),” he said.

Police Commissioner Darwin Dottin told reporters that investigators were examining whether there are any similarities between the tragedy and a previous incident where a botched robbery also ended with the business being set on fire.