A drunk police officer shot dead two colleagues in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Thursday, state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporation reported.

The policeman who fired on his colleagues was also shot dead, Federal Police Commissioner Zeynu Jemal was quoted by Fana as saying.

The attacker was intoxicated with alcohol at the time, Zeynu said.

Zaynu made no mention of any possible ethnic motivation behind the shooting, which comes after an escalation of ethnically-charged violence in Ethiopia.

The police commissioner did not immediately answer phone calls from Reuters requesting further details.

Roads in the central district of Bole where the shootout occurred were blocked off, residents said, but by this morning, calm appeared to have returned to the area, they said.