14 suspected bank robbers killed by police in Tanzania

Police have waylaid and killed 14 suspected robbers.

Photo: 14 suspected bank robbers killed by police in Tanzania

The gang was linked to another gang already in police custody and believed to be responsible for robberies in South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya, authorities said.

Acting on a tip that the 14 were planning to rob a bank in the northeastern town of Moshi, police blocked the route to their hideout late Wednesday, said Lucas Ng'hoboko, the regional police chief. When the suspects saw that police had found their hideout, they opened fire on the officers, starting a gunbattle in which they were killed, Ng'hoboko said.

Eleven of the dead suspected robbers - 10 men and one woman - had Kenyan identity cards and entered Tanzania on Tuesday, Ng'hoboko said. The other three are Tanzanian citizens, the chief said.

Kenyan police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said investigators found plans of a Tanzanian bank as well as those of a Tanzanian prison where 11 Kenyans are in custody as they face charges over a 2004 bank robbery in Tanzania.