DURBAN– The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation of the South African Police Service (SAPS), better known as the Hawks, have confirmed that a device found inside the mosque in Verulam, north of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal Province, is a bomb.
The device was attached to a cellphone and worshippers who had gathered at the mosque for evening prayers on Sunday had to be evacuated, says KwaZulu-Natal Hawks spokesperson Simphiwe Mhlongo. Experts will analyse what chemicals the bomb is made of.
The Director of the Terrorism Research and Analysis, Jasmine Opperman, believes that what happened at the mosque had nothing to do with extremism.
The device was found Sunday night in the mosque and the Reaction Unit South Africa evacuated several residences in the neighbourhood of the mosque which is the same one which was attacked last week.
On Sunday evening people who were preparing the mosque for evening prayers stumbled on the device.
The incident took place just days after three men stormed the mosque with knives, and slit the throat of Abbas Essop, leaving two others seriously wounded.
Opperman described the mosque incidents as “interesting”.
We have not seen religious tensions leading to violent attacks and that makes this case so interesting or so concerning. If indeed it is the case, it would be unprecedented although I do not believe that there’s extremism involved in this specific attack, said Opperman.
The director further said that this matter needed to be investigated, We need to understand, we need to investigate but we need a comprehensive strategy in which social harmony is being supported.
Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK