Police shot dead two members of a notorious six-man gang of criminals that have been terrorising residents of Kayole.

The gang had just robbed a man who was walking home and stabbed him before escaping with all his valuables, including his mobile phone on Wednesday.

After committing the crime, the gang walked majestically towards an alley in an area called Zanaki when members of the public who witnessed the robbery raised an alarm.

As luck would have it, the alarm caught the attention of two Soweto Police Station-based police officers who were on foot patrol.

They swiftly responded to the distress call and confronted the criminals.

When the six saw the police officers were upon them, they opened fire, forcing the officers to take positions and engage the criminals in a fierce gun battle.

Shortly into the exchange, police shot dead two members of the gang while the remaining four escaped with serious gunshot wounds.

The police officers recovered a pistol and a blood-stained knife they used to attack their previous victim.

The officers, together with concerned members of the public, rushed the injured man who was left lying in a pool of his blood to a city hospital where he was admitted in serious condition.

The bodies of the two fallen criminals were moved to City Mortuary pending identification.

Kayole-based detectives are still looking for the four members of the gang who escaped.

They have advised them to surrender and denounce their criminal activities before the same fate that befell the Katombi gang in Mathare caught up with them.