Cape Town - Members of the South African Police Explosives Unit are on the scene of the deadly knife attack at a Sunni mosque in Malmesbury. They are searching the field around the body of the alleged attacker who was shot dead by police shortly after he slit the throats of two men.
The Hawks, who earlier briefed Parliament on last month's mosque attack, are holding a press conference where they are expected to release more details around the attack.
“Malmesbury police were called out to a local mosque and found two people stabbed to death and several others injured,” police spokesperson Andre Traut said earlier on Thursday.
A bomb squad member approaches the body of the suspect who was shot dead by police after allegedly slitting the throats of two men at a Mamlesburg mosque. Picture: Henk Kruger/ANA/African News Agency
He said that the suspect who is believed to be in his late thirties was armed with a knife and still on the scene when police arrived. “Police tried to persuade him to hand himself over. He ignored the calls and tried to attack police,” Traut said. In the process, police shot and killed him.
HAPPENING NOW: Police have cordoned off the area to remove the body of the man who was responsible for the #MosqueAttack @TheCapeArgus @IOL pic.twitter.com/JgFZPS7ybT
— Marvin Charles (@MarvinCharles17) June 14, 2018
Faizel Bassa (centre), who survived an attack at the Malmesbury mosque, talks to police investigators near the scene where the attacker was killed. Faizel lost his father Ismail Ahmad Bassa in the attack which took place around 3 am on Thursday morning. Picture: Henk Kruger/ANA/African News Agency
On Thursday morning the Hawks told MPs that the attack at the Verulam mosque was a "matter of national security".
The latest incident is the third attack at a Mosque in South Africa over recent weeks. The Imaam at the Du Toit Street Mosque in Pretoria was stabbed a few weeks ago. We then had the deadly attack in Verulam. And now Malmsbury. #MosqueAttacks.
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) June 14, 2018
According to social activist Yusuf Abramjee, the fatal Malmesbury mosque stabbing is the third attack of this kind on a Muslim place of worship in recent months.