Policemen killed during patrol in Portugal

An unidentified gunman shot dead two police officers in a Lisbon suburb early today after they approached him in a patrol car and asked him for identification, authorities said.

The officers, aged 23 and 30, were shot several times in the head and chest from short range at around 2am, police said in a statement.

Police were searching for the perpetrator.

The deaths were the latest police fatalities in the Amadora suburb of the Portuguese capital where a policeman was gunned down last month.

In that slaying, the officer’s patrol car was sprayed with 29 bullets in an apparent ambush.

Armed gangs are suspected of trafficking drugs out of a low-income neighbourhood in Amadora, which is a known trouble spot.

Police killings are rare in Portugal. Two officers were shot to death last September, the first shooting deaths since February 2002.