Police shoot actors

Two actors filming a crime movie have been shot dead by police who apparently took them for real-life robbers.

Three other men were injured in the shoot-out on a film set in the Angolan capital Luanda. The movie's director only just survived unscathed, but was left shocked by how police seemed to storm in and start firing.

Radical Ribeiro, of the Banda Mulundi production company, insists he had permission to film at the location, a gritty suburb of Luanda. He believes the police officers, who leapt from a speeding van, were members of an elite squad.

He said: "We saw the police pick-up speeding towards us. It looked empty but then suddenly it stopped and people appeared on the back. Without asking any questions, they started shooting at everybody at close range. I don't know how I escaped. I was just two metres away. They went on shooting until I shouted out: 'Please don't shoot - this is a movie.'"

He claims the officers then left the scene without tending to any of the victims, who were rushed to hospital.

Angolan officials have so far not commented.