Mosque attack motive mystery
IRRESPONSIBLE: FUELLING CLAIMS OF EXTREMISTS IS WRONG, SAYS MUSLIM COUNCIL
Hawks say there have been no arrests and they are combing the scene for clues.
Questions around the motive for the attack at the Imam Hussain Mosque continued to build in the absence of clear answers as to why Abbas Essop was murdered and Ali Enchinaye and Mohammed Ali stabbed.
In a media interview, Enchinaye, since discharged, said what happened was a terrorist attack.
“There is no doubt about it and they definitely had a religious motive. These people were not robbers. They did not want phones, laptops, money, clothes ... they strictly wanted to kill us. That’s what they wanted to do.
“One of the suspects told me this, this is what he said and I quote: ‘I will kill you.’ That’s what he said. He was going to kill me.”
Mishka Daries, spokesperson for the Muslim Judicial Council, said there was a lot of shock in the Muslim community since the crime had taken place within a sacred religious space.
“There’s also a lot of rumours and accusations of extremist elements involved. We can’t say that. There’s too much speculation and a lot of it is happening on social media. The police have not confirmed anything with us.”
Daries said she was aware a special task force had been allocated to the case, as well as the Hawks, but until the council had feedback, Daries couldn’t say what the motive for the crime was.
“We want to end it right there because by fuelling the claims it was extremists or a specific group is, for now, incorrect. Because what happens when it is not?” Daries asked.
Hawks spokesperson Captain Simphiwe Mhlongo said there had been no arrests yet and the Hawks were still combing the scene for clues. No motive for the attack had been established yet, Nhlongo said.
Jasmine Opperman, director at Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium, said yesterday the organisation’s concern was that there had been no claim of credit – standard in terrorist attacks.
“If there’s going to be Islamic State (IS) involved, we will have a claim of credit. Usually, with inspired attacks, a video is released before the attack is executed in which they pledge their allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdad, and this has yet to surface.
“At this stage, we do not know who the perpetrators are, or what the actual motive is,” Opperman said.
“I’m more worried about the responses now and how those will feed IS propaganda. That could redirect unwelcome attention to South Africa, which we don’t want. We need the community to stay calm until we can resolve this issue.”