SOUTH AFRICA: UNIDENTIFIED GUNMEN KILL 8 PEOPLE IN JOHANNESBURG

Описание: (29 Jan 1996) English/Nat

Unidentified gunmen have opened fire on a crowd of people waiting for jobs outside a factory in Johannesburg, killing eight and wounding 20 others.

The shooting is reminiscent of terror attacks that plagued black townships in the Johannesburg area before South Africa's first all-race election in 1994.

According to witnesses, a group of about seven men armed with
assault rifles, a shotgun and handguns walked up to a 500-metre line-up of people and opened fire.

Eight bodies have been removed from the scene and at least 20 people were wounded in the shooting at this die casting factory in Alberton, an industrial suburb southeast of Johannesburg.

Pools of blood and discarded blankets and shoes lay scattered at the scene.

Terrified people are said to have fled towards the nearby Tokoza black township, some getting shot as they ran.

One eyewitness described the scene.

SOUNDBITE:

There were seven armed with AK-47s and 9mm, so they ran away to this direction, go down street. So they followed the people who were running down the street. So they were busy shooting until the Vereeniging Road.

SUPER CAPTION: Factory security guard

Police say the shooting began after a group of men cut in front of other job seekers in the line.

SOUNDBITE:

The shooting ensued with the end result that eight people died and 20 injured. The injured have been taken to the Natalspruit Hospital. At this stage the motive is unknown and police are continuing with their investigations.

SUPER CAPTION: Wikus Weber, police media liaison officer

Past violence in the area was often part of a political struggle between the African National Congress and Zulu nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party.

The fighting subsided after the ANC won the April 1994 election to head South Africa's first post-apartheid government.

But these shootings evoked memories of terror attacks in the area between 1990 and 1994 in which train and taxi commuters were often shot dead in a similar manner.

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