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Six security guards were shot dead while patrolling near a school in South Africa, police said Monday, not far from the scene where 18 people were shot dead just over a week ago.
“Last night, six people were shot dead and four others injured at Lugongozo Secondary School in Tina Falls, near Khumbu,” police said in a statement.
“A group of at least eight men armed with rifles and handguns opened fire," the statement said, adding that the suspects “are still at large.”
National Police Chief Fanny Masemola, who visited the area on Monday, told reporters that six security personnel survived the attack.
He said six suspects had been identified, adding: “We can confirm that three of them are local residents.”
“We have got a motive that it is related to stock theft, but we also know that there are conflicts going on within the various villages, but the full motive will be revealed later,” Masemola said.
Tina Falls, in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, is located in an area known for cattle raiding.
It is about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Ngobozana village in Lusikisiki, where the mass shooting that shocked the country occurred on September 28.
Three suspects were detained for questioning, but the motive for the massacre remains unclear. Many of the victims were relatives, mostly women, killed on rural farms.
In South Africa, a country with one of the highest per capita murder rates in the world, there are growing calls for greater police protection.
The government said the shooting was “totally unacceptable” and that “law enforcement will ensure the perpetrators are booked.”
“A team of detectives and forensic experts were called to the scene and the investigation is ongoing,” it said in a statement.
