Emma KnightsA post office and a village shop were targeted by burglars yesterday.Police are linking both crimes which happened in the early hours of Saturday.At about 2.Emma Knights

A post office and a village shop were targeted by burglars yesterday.

Police are linking both crimes which happened in the early hours of Saturday.

At about 2.20am burglars broke into the front of Victoria Stores in Mattishall and stole cigarettes.

And between 2am and 6am the gang unsuccessfully tried to break into Lyng post office.

Det Sgt Jason Davis, of Thetford CID, said: 'We believe these two incidents are linked and are looking for anyone who witnessed either offence or has any information concerning them.'

It was the second time in a month Lyng post office had been targeted - on January 3 a gang ram-raided the post office and took a cash-filled safe.

There have been a number of other rural shops broken into recently. Three stores were raided in the Dereham and Fakenham area in the early hours of January 7. They were the Co-op store and post office in Briston Road, Melton Constable, Swanton Morley's village store in Gooseberry Hill, and Milehan Stores in Litcham Road.

In December an ATM machine was stolen from Barnham Broom village shop and a safe was taken from a McColls shop in Hempnall.

t Anyone with information should contact Det Sgt Davis on 0845 4564567 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.