A man dressed as a police officer has killed 16 people in a shooting in rural Canada, the deadliest such attack in the country’s history.

Police said the attacker, wearing a police uniform, may have targeted his first victims before attacking randomly in the province of Nova Scotia.

Officials said a police officer was among those killed, and that the suspected shooter was also dead.

Overnight, police advised residents to lock their doors and stay in their basements. Several houses were set on fire.

The attacker was Gabriel Wortman, 51. Police first announced they had arrested Wortman at a gas station in Enfield, outside Halifax, but later said he had died. It was not clear how, and they did not explain further.