YAOUNDE, April 17 (Reuters) - Police in Cameroon killed seven members of an armed criminal gang on Tuesday in an early morning raid on their hideout in the West African country's main commercial city of Douala, state radio said.

Acting on a tip-off, police officers surrounded an abandoned building in Douala's northern Bonamoussadi neighbourhood, where many new homes are under construction.

"The bandits were taken unawares ... They immediately opened fire on the security forces, and in a hot exchange of gunfire, seven of them were shot dead," the radio said.

It added the gang had preyed on the local population and met in the abandoned building to share out loot from robberies.

Police in the world's fourth biggest cocoa producer have been facing a rising wave of crime in major cities by bandits who hold up cars and raid homes, often in daylight.

In January, suspected bandits killed a French scientist working for an agricultural research institute.

The rise in crime has also triggered increased cases of mob justice, in which angry members of the public seize suspected criminals and sometimes beat or burn them to death.

President Paul Biya said in his New Year address to the nation at the start of 2007 that tackling urban crime and highway robbery would be urgent priorities.

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