By CYRUS OMBATI
Six suspected thugs were Tuesday night shot dead in two separate botched robbery incidents in Nairobi and fake guns found on them.
Police said the men were part of a larger group that has been behind a series of carjacking incidents targeting commuter buses especially in the city.
In the first incident, police gunned down five suspected carjackers along Joseph Kangethe Road near Kibera slums in a botched robbery on commuters.
Police say the suspects had hijacked a City Shuttle bus ferrying commuters to Ngong town from the city centre when the incident occured.
Flying Squad officers were alerted and acted swiftly gunning down five of the suspects while one escaped.
The incident occurred a few meters from Winners Chapel church. Kilimani Deputy Police Boss Johana Chebii said the men had stopped the bus in a dark alley ready to start to rob the passengers when police arrived accosted them.
“They started to jump out of the bus and run away when police moved into action. The officers had been alerted of the carjacking incident,” said Mr Chebii.
The commuters of the bus escaped unhurt and were later escorted to their destination. Chebii said police believe the gang has been behind a series of carjacking and robberies witnessed in the area targeting buses.
The gang had boarded the bus at the Railway bus stop posing as passengers before they drew out their fake guns and started to demand money.
On reaching Ngong Road, the gang forced the driver to avoid a road block and branched to Muthithi Road before they crossed to Joseph Kangethe Road where they were mowed down by police bullets.
Earlier on, another passenger vehicle that was headed for Kitengela was carjacked and passengers robbed of their valuables and cash by gunmen who had posed as passengers.
