Scenes of Quiet Desolation after Mosque Killings in South Africa
On Thursday morning‚ three blue shotgun shells lay in the mud on an open field in the Swartland town; and a few meters further on a man lay in the mud‚ his body being battered with icy rain from an Atlantic storm.
The man is believed to be a Somali and the Hawks have taken over the case. They were taking statements from members of Cape Town’s Somali community in a church next to the field‚ where forensic investigators were working on the scene, News24.com reported.
One of the men told Times Select he was a family member of the attacker and that he did not know what the man was doing in Malmesbury as he was supposed to be in “hospital” somewhere in Cape Town.
Although the deadly attack has similarities to a recent attack at a Shia mosque in KwaZulu-Natal, north of Durban, the police have not established any links yet, although they have called the attack a matter of “national security”.
The Muslim community has been left reeling after this, the second attack in a few weeks, which came as Muslims are preparing to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the festival of breaking the fast, on Friday.
The Muslim Judicial Council said worshippers were performing “l’tikaf” or seclusion in the mosque when the knifeman entered and joined congregants in morning prayers.
“Just after 3am, when the worshippers retreated to rest, the assailant attacked the imam first and then murdered the members who came to the imam’s defense,” it said in a statement.
Police said the attack near Durban showed “elements of extremism”.
They did not comment on the motive behind the killings in Malmesbury, a small farming town 65km north of Cape Town, but national police commissioner Lieutenant-General Khehla Sitole told News24 earlier today that investigators hadn’t established a connection between the two attacks.
“The [Malmesbury] case is not very different from the Verulam one. Although we haven’t established full connections between the two, but its nature again, is also bearing on national security,” Sitole said.
Malmesbury and the Western Cape province in which it is located is home to the largest community of Muslims in South Africa.
“The suspect, believed to be in his thirties and armed with a knife, was still on the scene and charged at the police who tried to persuade him to hand himself over,” police said in a statement. The suspect was shot as he attacked officers, police said.
Most Commented 