Police killed eighteen people in a shootout in South Africa’s northeastern Limpopo province on Friday, describing them as suspects who were planning to rob a cash truck.
“As soon as police approached the address, the group of suspects began shooting, police retaliated. Sixteen males and two females were declared dead at the scene”, the South African Police Service said.
Police spokesperson, Brig. Athlenda Mathe gave no more immediate information but local media reported that the 18 killed were in a gang suspected of robbing armored vans carrying cash for banks, a common and often violent crime in South Africa that regularly leads to deadly shootouts.
The shootings added to an horrific two days for the country after at least 74 people died in a fire in a rundown apartment complex in the city of Johannesburg in the predawn hours of Thursday.