Cops kill 6 'bank robbers'
2008-07-21 18:04
Dar Es Salaam - Tanzanian police shot dead six suspected bank robbers and arrested two others in a gun battle in the country's southwestern region, an senior police officer said on Monday.
Police confronted a group of nine people overnight on Saturday as they tried to rob the National Microfinance Bank, some 350km southwest of the capital Dar es Salaam, Regional Police Commander Thobias Andendenye told AFP.
Andendenye said the bandits were armed with a shotgun, a pistol, 10 rounds of ammunition and machetes. They also bore talismans and charms believed to be acquired from a witchdoctor.
Of the nine suspects, six were killed, two arrested and one escaped. No policeman was killed or injured in the gun battle.
Bank robberies are common in Tanzania, where authorities have in the past blamed people from neighbouring Kenya of carrying out the robberies.
- AFP