Three police officers and a private security guard were killed by a lone gunman in a shooting spree near the French embassy in Tanzania’s economic hub of Dar es Salaam yesterday, police said. Head of police operations Liberatus Sabas told reporters that the motive of the gunman, who was shot dead at the scene by a police sniper, was not yet known.
“It’s too early to conclude that this is terrorism as we still investigate the motives,” he said. “Residents should remain calm as we investigate the matter.”
He said that in addition to the four dead, six other people were injured in the incident in a usually calm seaside area of Dar es Salaam that houses a number of embassies. Footage aired on local media showed a man in a checked shirt and white cap armed with an assault rifle roaming the street near a city bus. He was later seen being shot and falling to the ground close to the entrance of the French embassy.
“The man appeared like a sheikh with a white cap. He passed near me without greeting and when I greeted him he did not reply. He was sweating. After a short while, we heard firing,” said one witness who declined to be named. President Samia Suluhu Hassan sent her condolences over the killings and called for police to conduct a thorough investigation. US ambassador to Tanzania Donald J Wright also sent his condolences over the “senseless attack”, tweeting his “deepest thanks to the brave law enforcement personnel who brought an end to the rampage”.
The incident took place shortly after Hassan had hosted a meeting in Dar es Salaam of senior police officers, where police chief Simon Sirro said that crime had gone down in the year to June.
A Tanzanian security officer guards an entrance to the French embassy after an attacker wielding an assault rifle was killed in the Salenda area of Dar es Salaam, on Wednesday.
