One dead as attackers slit throats of worshipers at mosque

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Three men armed with guns and knives slit the throats of three worshipers at a mosque near Durban in South Africa, killing one, said an emergency service official on Thursday.

One victim jumped from a side window of the building, which had been set ablaze, said Prem Balram, a spokesman for Reaction Unit SA, a private emergency service that was among the first on the scene.

"One of the three has just died on his way to hospital. The other two are in critical condition," said Balram, adding that the suspects had fled in a white car and that locals had identified them as Egyptian males.

South African police said the motive behind the attack at the mosque, which is on the Old Main Road in the Ottawa suburb in KwaZulu-Natal province, remains unknown and is under investigation. Africa's most industrialized country has a large expatriate community and attracts many tourists but has seldom been associated with Islamist militancy.

Balram said police had cordoned off the site of the attack.

"There is a knife that was recovered at the scene. We believe the knife is suspected to have been used in the crime," the KwaZulu-Natal police spokeswoman Captain Nqobile Ngwala said at the scene.

Police said in a statement that three unknown men entered a mosque after the midday prayer and attacked three people. The suspects also set certain rooms in the mosque alight before fleeing in their getaway vehicle, authorities said.

"The motive of the attack on the three men is unknown at this stage," police said, adding that no arrests have been made.

Source(s): Reuters