4 Mar 2016

New Caledonia police shot at in two separate incidents

8:52 pm on 4 March 2016

Police in New Caledonia have been shot at and had stones thrown at them in two separate incidents on the outskirts of Noumea.

Noumea municipal police facade

Noumea municipal police facade Photo: RNZ

A police spokesman says a vehicle was deployed to the suburb of St Louis, in the Le Mont-Dore area, on Wednesday morning to recover a stolen car when two shots were fired at the armoured vehicle, one striking the door.

Then, in a separate incident on Thursday night, policemen went to the scene of a burning car in the same area where gunfire and rocks were fired in their direction from nearby bushes.

The incidents are the latest in a series of cases of police being violently targetted in New Caledonia, with the territory recording 35 cases of officers being injured in attacks in 2015.

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