Cape Town - Police are being shot, stabbed and bludgeoned across the country, with the tally of officers targeted in attacks spiking dramatically over the past week.
Fifty-three officers have been killed this year, a rise of over 10 percent on the same period last year.
Another policeman was wounded on Sunday while conducting crime prevention operations at the N2 Gateway in Delft.
Although bullets flew, he was not severely injured and was treated on the scene.
However, the shooting took place on the same day that two other officers were shot and wounded while controlling traffic in Joburg.
This was after a policeman was wounded by a stone flung through his vehicle window while watching over a Pagad march in Manenberg on Saturday.
The incidents followed a week in which three officers were killed in shootouts with criminals in Temba, Vosloorus and Jeppestown, and another - Hawks official Warrant Officer Petrus Holz - was stabbed to death after running over a booby trap of rubble set by highway robbers on the N2 in Cape Town.
The latest attack on police took place on Sunday night, said police spokeswoman Constable Noloyiso Rwexana. Officers were conducting crime prevention operations at the N2 Gateway in Delft at around 4am.
“They noticed an unidentified suspect roaming around at Leeu Street,” said Rwexana. When police stopped their vehicle to confront the man, he started shooting, firing three shots.
A 37-year-old policeman was hit in the leg. The other bullets damaged the police car.
“(He) was treated on the scene and transported to a medical facility,” said Rwexana.
The other two officers in the vehicle were unharmed. Police are now hunting for the man behind the shooting after opening a case of attempted murder and malicious damage to state property.
No arrests have been made.
Police say that of the 53 police officers killed since January, 25 were killed on duty and 28 were killed off duty. That is six more officers than were slain during the same period last year.
In addition, 1 500 officers were attacked between March 2014 and February 2015, said Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega - a substantial rise in assaults.
National police spokesman Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo said the SAPS was appalled by the high number of attacks on police.
Cape Argus