Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 07:55 am
Five people were killed, including three police officers, according to Tanzania’s president on Wednesday, following a gun battle with an armed man near the French embassy in the capital, Dar es Salaam.
It was not immediately clear whether the shootout in the heavily guarded diplomatic area was a terror attack or a misunderstanding between the parties involved. Deputy Chief of Police Liberatus Sabas said the gunman attacked two police officers, took their firearms, and then “began shooting sporadically towards the French Embassy” in Tanzania.
“He then took cover in a structure next to the French Embassy, where he continued to shoot,” Sabas said of the suspect. Mr. Sirro told reporters that the armed man had been identified as being a foreigner and that the police believe he was from Somalia.
Sirro also expressed concern that the attack could be linked to the jihadist insurgency in neighboring Mozambique, where a growing number of African countries are working together to apprehend the insurgents and kill them.
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After addressing security officials in another part of the city, Tanzania’s commercial hub, President Samia Suluhu Hassan was summoned to the scene of the confrontation.
In a later statement, the president stated that three police officers, one member of the auxiliary police, and the armed man were killed, and she ordered an investigation into the incident.
The United States Embassy issued a security alert, advising citizens to stay away from the area. The shootout took place not far from the site of the deadly bombing of the United States Embassy in Kenya in 1998.
