Eight people killed by thugs in Tanzania's coastal Tanga region

Eight people were killed by an unknown number of thugs using machetes on Monday midnight in Tanzania's coastal region of Tanga, police said Tuesday.

Leonard Paul, the Tanga regional police commander, said a group of thugs, suspected to be illegal immigrants, raided houses at Kibatini suburb, some 55 km from Tanga city center and killed the eight villagers.

"We have not yet established the motive behind the killings," said Paul, describing the killings as "the worst to have occurred in the region in recent history."

The police have launched a manhunt for the killers, who took away biscuits, rice and sugar from a shop that belonged to one of the victims.

Last year, four armed bandits were gunned down at Tanga's famed Amboni Caves in an exchange of fire with police.

On May 19, around 15 masked assailants stormed a mosque on the shores of Lake Victoria in Tanzania's Mwanza region. They used improvised explosives, machetes and axes against worshippers, killing three people. Endit