Mosque killer was ‘out of his mind’
THE attacker who killed two men in a mosque yesterday appeared to be out of his mind‚ the son of one of the victims said.
Saud Bassar‚ 30‚ said the man had arrived at the mosque in Malmesbury‚ in the Western Cape‚ during the night and asked for shelter.
Inside the mosque‚ Bassar’s father‚ Ismail‚ 72, was observing i’tikaaf (night prayers during the last 10 days of Ramadan) with two clerics and another man.
“The guy came here in a different kind of state,” Bassar said.
“He wasn’t drunk or anything, but he was apparently out of his mind in a certain sense.
“He claimed that he was looking for shelter because he wanted to get a lift to Vredenburg the next morning.”
Bassar and his brother Faizal‚ 24‚ were awoken at 2.30am by their mother, Zainab‚ who had heard the moulana knocking frantically on the door of their house‚ which is next to the mosque.
The cleric told Zainab the stranger had attacked the men as they slept.
“I rushed to my children’s room,” Zainab said.
“I got them up, they phoned the cops immediately and then rushed to the masjied [mosque] with some heavy equipment – sticks and all that – trying to keep the guy inside the mosque so that he could not escape.”
Faizal said he knew he had to enter the mosque because his father was sleeping there, but the attacker had switched off the lights.
“When I went in, the guy attacked me and was attacking the moulana,” he said.
“I got one or two shots in but then he turned around and stabbed me in the face and the arm and, when I tried to get away, he stabbed me in the back.”
The man then fled the mosque‚ with the brothers in pursuit‚ and stopped in a field about 400m away.
Bassar said the man had still been acting erratically‚ and he circled him with his car until the police arrived.
The police officers appeared to be unarmed and kept their distance‚ but when a second police vehicle arrived the man tried to attack it and was shot dead.
As dawn broke‚ the man’s body could be seen in the middle of a muddy field.
His feet were bare and his shoes lay a few metres from him.
A sniffer dog and the bomb squad arrived to check the man for explosives. A knife could be seen lying near his body.
Bassar said the priests had called a Somali leader to try to speak to the dying man, because he could not understand English or Afrikaans.
After being treated in hospital‚ Faizal returned to the family home to comfort his mother.
The family was arranging to bury Ismail yesterday as prescribed by the Muslim faith. Bassar said: “My father was a very cool and calm person.
“He was in his 70s and spent most of his time in the mosque‚ that’s what he loved to do.
“It’s sad but Allah took him inside the place he loved the most.”
Zainab said: “I am very strong and I believe [Allah] will guide us through this difficult time.”
Moulana Abdul Khalid Allie‚ first deputy president of the Muslim Judicial Council‚ said the attack had defiled the sanctity of the mosque.
“We are deeply traumatised by this incident‚” he said.
“It is a spiritual month and it is a significant period for the global Muslim community. People at the mosque were at prayer.
“One of the most regular persons to attend the mosque has been killed there, with another person.”
Western Cape community safety MEC Dan Plato‚ who arrived at the mosque at about 8.30am‚ said he and Western Cape premier Helen Zille offered their deepest condolences to the families of the dead.
“I see this as an isolated incident, but we will watch it and will engage with the Muslim community‚ the police and the Somali leadership of greater Cape Town to get their perspective,” he said.
Hours before the attack‚ the judicial council issued a call for unity among Muslims in South Africa after what it described as an extremely difficult and strenuous Ramadan.
On its Facebook page‚ it said: “It was plagued by much controversy‚ discord and disunity from defamation and slander to blatant disrespect and takfirism [excommunication].
“This discord had a direct impact on our reputation as a tolerant and dignified community.”