Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete has ordered the arrest and prosecution of 15 policemen who were involved in the killing of four civilians earlier this year.

Local newspapers on Sunday quoted Philemon Luhanjo, chief secretary of the president's office, as saying that the presidential directive had followed recommendations for legal actions made by Judge Mussa Kipenka.

The judge led a special commission investigating into the police shooting and killing of the four people alleged as armed robbers in January in Dar es Salaam.

The commission was set up on January 24 in the wake of the killing incident.

"The Attorney-General has already informed us that several implicated officers have been arrested," said the chief secretary.

The arrested police officers are scheduled to be taken to court on Monday.

The chief secretary did not give the names or ranks of the arrested police officers.

Three gemstone dealers from the Morogoro region in central Tanzania and a taxi driver from Dar es Salaam were shot and killed by police officers who claimed that the foursome had refused to surrender when asked to do so.

Yet eyewitnesses said that the four men had been arrested and handcuffed by police without resistance and there was no claimed shoot-out between the police and the foursome.

An outcry from the public that the policemen had killed the four businessmen to rob them of their cash prompted the president to order the probe.

Source: Xinhua