DODOMA, 26 August 2021, (TON): President Samia Suluhu Hassan said that an attacker wielding an assault rifle was shot dead after killing three police officers and an employee of a private security company near the French embassy in the Tanzanian commercial capital Dar es Salaam.

Hassan said on Twitter that the attacker had been neutralised and calm has returned.

Hassan said “I send my condolences to the police service and the families of three policemen, and one officer of the SGA security company, who lost their lives after an armed person attacked them in the Salenda area of Dar es Salaam.”

Inspector General of Police Simon Sirro said “police were trying to identify the attacker in a short video published by Millard Ayo, a Tanzanian news website.

He said “the gunman’s motives remained unknown.”

Head of police operations Liberatus Sabas told reporters that six other people were injured in the incident.

According to witnesses “police on duty at the French mission and a nearby bank tried to stop the gunman, who was yelling that he wanted to kill police officers.”