Mix-up leaves police dead

Press, 19 December 1988, Page 9

Mix-up leaves police dead

NZPA-Reuter

Johannesburg

South African soldiers shot and killed two policemen and a civilian ■ informer in a mix-up over a reported arms cache in Soweto, the police said yesterday. Lieutenant Robbie Olivier confirmed press reports giving the first details of the midnight gunbattle in Johannesburg’s black township on Wednesday. He said the police and soldiers, who share responsibility for policing townships, learned separately that guns had been hidden in a house in the White City section of Soweto.

Soldiers broke in and set a trap for the owner of the house while the police sent a five-man unit, accompanied by a civilian informer, to investigate the report. “The policemen were

shot at when they arrived,” he said. “Two black policemen were killed and a third was wounded. The civilian, also a black man, was also killed.”

Lieutenant Olivier said the police never had a chance to shoot back, but witnesses quoted in several Sunday newspapers said the two sides exchanged fire for up to 30 minutes.

He said the police were looking into the incident and had sought to keep it quiet to make the investigation easier. A witness told Johannesburg’s black “City Press” newspaper that the house had been under observation for some time before the shooting. “All hell broke loose,” the witness said. “There were loud bangs of gunfire lasting several minutes. They shot and shot.”