Muslim preacher wanted for acid attack on British teenagers in Zanzibar shot by police as he tried to escape

A radical Muslim preacher wanted in connection with the acid attack on two British teenagers in Zanzibar has gone on the run after being shot by police officers, it emerged today.

Sheikh Issa Ponda Issa was hit in the shoulder with a tear-gas canister as he tried to escape from officers after being cornered near Tanzania's capital Dar es Salaam.

Kirstie Trup and Katie Gee - both aged 18 and from Hampstead in north London - are still been treated in Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, where they are ‘well rested and comfortable’.

Faustine Shilogile, a police commander in Morogoro, where the sheikh was shot, said: ‘He has not been arrested. He has been shot at.

'We have been looking for him in all corners of the country. We are no closer to finding who was responsible for this. But this is a serious police investigation. We are doing everything we can.’

The women are spending a third day in hospital after being admitted on Friday. They are receiving treatment for burns inflicted in an unprovoked attack while they were on a volunteering holiday on the island.

Members of both teenagers' families are keeping a bedside vigil, after the pair were flown home and immediately sent to the capital's regional burns centre.

A hospital spokesman said: ‘The patients are well-rested and comfortable at the hospital. They have been with their families all day. Doctors are continuing to assess treatment options for both patients.’

Meanwhile, Tory MP Bill Cash, who sits on the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tanzania, has urged the Foreign Office to further upgrade its travel warning for tourists visiting both Zanzibar and Tanzania because the attack was ‘more than just an ordinary criminal event’.

The Foreign Office updated its Tanzania travel advice page on Friday with details of the attack and is warning British nationals to ‘take care’ and read the guidance.