Govt to establish special police zone in Rufiji to curb brutal killings

Dodoma. The government plans to establish a special police zone in Rufiji to arrest the wave of brutal killings in the area, Minister for home affairs Mr Mwigulu Nchemba told the parliament on Tuesday.

Mr Nchemba, who was tabling his ministry’s 2017/18 budget, said 56,913 criminal offences were recorded in the country in a period between July 2016 and March 2017.

The minister told the August House that 2,532 people were murdered in the period between July 2016 and March 2017. Out of the number, 2,067 were men while 465 were women.

Mr Nchemba also told the House that 410 firearms and 2,262 rounds of ammunitions were seized in the same period. The minister also told the House that 576 cases of armed robbery were reported.

The government’s decision to establish the special police zone in Kibiti comes as the wave of killings of police officers and local leaders has escalated recently.

Some 13 local government leaders have been shot dead recently by people riding on motorcycles and who do not steal anything from those targeted. Police last week shot dead three people dressed as women when they defied orders to stop at a roadblock in Lindi.

In April 14 seven police were killed by unknown men.

They were returning to camp after a daylong shift. Their camp is 100km from Dar es Salaam and was established in response to activities linked to a shadowy group along the coast that has mounted sporadic attacks on security personnel and local leaders.

The incident occurred at Mkengeni Village along the Dar es Salaam-Lindi road.