A guard lost his life after being shot in an exchange of fire with a group of robbers who stole a cash vehicle on Thursday in the Fomento neighborhood of Matola, Maputo province.

Information that has been circulated says that the truck was ambushed by two other vehicles as it was leaving a bank.

At the time of the raid, the vehicle was loaded with large sums of money.

One person who witnessed the scene and escaped a chase by the thugs - some of whom were wearing masks and wigs - told Miramar, who was almost shot. He said he started hearing the gunfire as he was about to enter a supermarket.

"When I got closer to try and see what was going on, I saw a cash-in-transit car coming out at speed. The back door was open. At that moment another white car came out and then a third car, a Toyota Sienta," he said.

The driver of the truck was allegedly forced to abandon the car.

He said that the assailants fired shots into the air, telling the supermarket employees to leave because they could lose their lives.

Once in possession of the safe car, they headed in a direction where, in the vicinity of where the robbery took place, they came across a security car....

"When he tried to block the thieves' car, other shots were fired," he said, noting that at that moment the thieves gave way.

The same source said that the action lasted around five minutes, and said that other people had seen one of the thieves' cars circling the area for some time, having driven around the place three times.