A 38-year-old woman at Esuekyir, a suburb of the Central Regional capital, Cape Coast has been killed by a stray bullet, Joy News Kwadwo Nyarko reports.

Mary Aboagye, her husband, a 15-year-old girl and two others are also battling for their lives when they got caught in a crossfire between the police and suspected armed robbers on Thursday.

Police said they rushed to the area after they received calls of an ongoing robbery operation involving a BMW saloon car with registration number GT 4523 V, while they were on patrol in the vicinity.

“The police pursued them and on reaching police barriers at Praso and Jukwa, the suspected armed robbers caused damage to the barricades and sped off.

“The police chased them to the Brimso barrier and again ignored a signal by police officers on duty to stop, nearly knocking down a policeman on duty,” Regional police commander DCOP Paul Awuni said while addressing the press after the incident.

Upon reaching the Ankaful junction, however, the suspected robbers opened fire on the police who were still on their trail.

The police returned fire and amidst that, a taxi cab with registration number CR 523 17 in which the deceased and her husband were seated in got caught between the robbers and the police vehicle.

The teenager and the two other pedestrians who were waiting by the road for a vehicle also got injured in the process. They are being treated at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital.

DCOP Awuni said in the process of the shoot out, “the robbers run their vehicle into a ditch and one of them who was with a rifle fell and run through the bush.”

However, “police arrested two of the suspected robbers - Joseph Quansah, 36 and Daniel Ewusi, 32. Ewusi who was injured during the attack is also receiving treatment at the hospital.”

They are, however, unable to determine if it was their bullet or the robbers’ that killed the woman.

Police say they found seven live and five dead goats in the vehicle when they inspected it.

Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Police, David Asante Apeatu, has directed the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to take over investigations into the incident.

The CID is expected to submit a report on the development in three weeks.