BAGHDAD, July 30 (Reuters) - Police in Baghdad arrested a gang on Thursday who had shot dead eight people during a bank robbery two days earlier, the Interior Ministry said.

The gunmen had stormed a branch of Iraq's state-owned Rafidain bank in central Baghdad on Tuesday, opening fire on security staff before blasting open the vault with dynamite and making off with eight billion Iraqi dinars ($6.84 million).

"We got the money back and we captured some of the criminals just hours ago," Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Abdul-Karim Khalaf said.

Security officials say there are links between organised crime in Iraq and the still active armed insurgency against U.S. and Iraqi security forces.

For the robbery story, click on [nLS684932]

(Reporting by Wathiq Ibrahim; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Michael Roddy)

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