Five killed in attack on South African church, hostages freed

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

WORLD NEWS JULY 11, 2020 / 7:33 AM / UPDATED 44 MINUTES AGO

Five killed in attack on South African church, hostages freed

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Five people were killed in an attack on a church west of Johannesburg in the early hours of Saturday, South African police said, with some of the attackers taking hostages who were later freed.

Police arrested around 40 people and seized 40 firearms, including rifles, shotguns and handguns, related to the attack on the International Pentecost Holiness Church in Zuurbekom, police spokesman Vishnu Naidoo told the eNCA television station.

Police earlier posted pictures of some of the confiscated weapons on Twitter, saying they were dealing with a “hostage situation and shooting”.

One potential motive for the attack is a power struggle at the church between rival factions, local media reported.

“(E)verything was in complete disarray, so we have arrested all those that we reasonably believe are suspects, we are busy interviewing and interrogating them to establish exactly what the motive was,” Naidoo told eNCA.

Reporting by Alexander Winning and Lynette Ndabambi; Editing by Toby Chopra

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-safrica-violence/five-killed-in-attack-on-south-african-church-hostages-freed-idUSKCN24C0FB

[sinkingfeeling]

1. So Christian to kill each other.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. This is not the first shooting over power at the church

and police and other officials were among those arrested this time:

Pretoria – At least five people have been killed and 40 others arrested in a church hostage drama still at the feud-ravaged International Pentecostal Holiness Church in Zuurbekom, west of Johannesburg, the South African Police Service (SAPS) in Gauteng said on Saturday.
...
"Among those arrested are members of SAPS, SANDF, JMPD and the Department of Correctional Services."
...
In November 2018, a shoot-out between feuding factions of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church left three people wounded outside the church headquarters in Zuurbekom. The factions have been at loggerheads since the church leader and founder Comforter Glayton Modise died in 2016.

At the time, police spokesperson Captain Mavela Masondo said one group drove towards the church allegedly to ambush the rival group that was inside the building.“The ones inside the church saw the approaching cars and a shoot-out ensued. One person was shot and he was taken to hospital,” Masondo said.

https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/gauteng/pics-five-dead-40-arrested-in-gauteng-church-hostage-drama-50834866

SANDF=South African National Defence Force
JMPD=Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department