The poeple of Armenia have been grieving at the funerals of the Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkissian and other senior politicians shot dead during an armed attack on parliament.

Seven of the victims, including Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkissian and Parliamentary Speaker Karen Demirchyan, were interred in four separate ceremonies in the Armenian capital, Yerevan.

Hundreds of wreaths were displayed outside the opera house where the open coffins of those slain had been lying in state. As mourners gathered, many of them weeping uncontrollably, state television played Mozart's requiem mass.

The Armenian President, Robert Kocharyan, was joined for the ceremony by delegations from around the world.

Armenian and Russian leaders joined thousands of ordinary Armenians on Saturday to pay their last respects and file past the coffins of the politicians at a service broadcast on national television.