JOHANNESBURG: A suspected explosive device was discovered on Sunday in a mosque near the South African port city of Durban where a fatal knife attack occurred last week, the eNCA TV news channel and other media reported.
South Africa is racked by violent crime and social strife rooted in poverty and glaring income disparities but it is seldom associated with the extremism seen in other parts of the continent.
Prem Balram, a spokesman for Reaction Unit SA, a private emergency service, was quoted on the News24 online news service as saying the mosque and homes in the area were evacuated “after a device resembling a bomb has been found inside the building”.
“The device [was] connected to a Nokia mobile phone,” he was quoted as saying.
The footage from eNCA showed a police presence at the mosque and worshippers gathered outside.
A spokesman for the elite police Hawks unit said he was on his way to the scene and could only confirm the details once he arrived.
Three men armed with guns and knives had attacked worshippers at the mosque near Durban on Thursday. One person was killed after his throat was slit, and two others were injured.