Kingston, May 4 (IANS): A Jamaican police officer shot dead a colleague before taking his own life at his birthday party.

Eyewitnesses said the two officers on Sunday had a quarrel that ended with one shooting the other in the abdomen at a bar in the country's coastal city of Ocho Rios, Xinhua news agency reported.

The wounded officer was rushed to hospital on a pick-up truck by his colleagues when the shooter shot himself at the back of the vehicle.

Both men were declared dead at a nearby hospital.

Derrick Smith, opposition spokesman on national security, said he was shocked and disturbed at the incident as it raised questions about management of the police force in the country.

"Sunday's murder-suicide brings into sharp focus the temperament of police officers and their capacity to exercise restraint, both on and off the job," he said.

He urged action from Police Commissioner Carl Williams, who, in a statement, expressed condolences to families of the two policemen and promised a thorough and speedy investigation.