ARMED police swooped on a residential street in Boscombe on Monday night after being alerted to a man wielding an axe.

Dorset Police confirmed that officers were called to the scene at Aylesbury Road at around 8.30pm after the occupants of two vehicles got into an altercation.

A spokesperson for the force said witnesses reported seeing them in dispute and one was armed with an axe.

She added: “Due to information that weapons were present armed units attended with local response officers to try and locate the offenders.”

An eyewitness, who did not want to be named, said he saw three men attacking a car outside a house on Aylesbury Road near to the junction with Randolph Road.

“They were surrounding the car shouting and kicking it,” he added.

“Then I saw them drive off and about 20 minutes later a police patrol car turned up along with three armed response units. The police stayed there for a couple of hours knocking on doors and investigating.”

Another resident of Aylesbury Road, who also did not want to be named, said she was frightened after hearing loud noises out in the street early on in the evening.

“I could hear shouting and banging. Things like that do happen around here but not usually so early on. It was still light. If it had been midnight I wouldn’t have been so surprised.” she added.

“Then there were three men running away and all of these police showed up.”

There have been no arrests.

Any witnesses should contact police on 101.