6 killed as gunmen raid SA police station

JOHANNESBURG - Gunmen killed six people in an attack on a police station in a small South African town yesterday, stealing quantities of weapons and a vehicle in what police were treating as a robbery.

Five police officers and an off-duty soldier were killed in the attack in Nqcobo, about 800 km southeast of Johannesburg, police spokesman Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo said.

“This incident happened in the early hours of the morning when armed robbers, or what we suspect is armed robbers, entered the station, randomly opened fire on the police officers on duty,” Naidoo told eNCA news channel.

The gunmen also shot a bystander who turned out to be a off-duty soldier as they fled in a stolen police vehicle, Naidoo said.

South Africa’s police minister, Fikile Mbalula, called the attack a national tragedy.

South Africa has one of the highest crime rates in the world.

Meanwhile, South Africa’s parliament will launch an investigation into allegations of influence-peddling against mines minister Mosebenzi Zwane, its oversight committee on mineral resources department said yesterday.

The committee did not give specific reasons on why it wanted to open an investigation into Zwane, who it had interviewed last October. Zwane has previously denied any wrongdoing.

Zwane was implicated in a report by South Africa’s Public Protector, a constitutionally mandated anti-corruption watchdog that accused the Gupta family of using their links with former President Jacob Zuma to win state tenders, influence government policy and cabinet appointments. – REUTERS.