Two stabbed to death in South African mosque

MALMESBURY, South Africa: A Somali man stabbed two worshippers to death and wounded two others in a rampage at a mosque in South Africa on Thursday before being shot dead by police, officers said.

Police quickly surrounded the building in Malmesbury near Cape Town outside which a body lay under a tree and a penknife was discarded nearby, according to an AFP correspondent at the scene. The motive of the attacker, who police said was Somali, remains unclear.

It comes just a month after a deadly stabbing at another South African mosque which police said had "elements of extremism" and left an Islamic leader dead. Police were alerted by early morning worshippers and arrived at Malmesbury’s mosque to find two people had died of stab wounds, Western Cape police spokeswoman Noloyiso Rwexana, told AFP.

"The suspect, believed to be in his thirties and armed with a knife, charged at the police who tried to persuade him to hand himself over," she said. The man, who was seen at the mosque for the first time on Wednesday according to police, "ignored the calls and tried to attack police. He was shot dead".

Forensics officers are now conducting a finger-tip search of the area and the elite Hawks investigative unit has been drafted in to lead the inquiry. Zainab Bassa, the wife of 72-year-old Ismail Bassa who was killed in the attack, told AFP that her husband of more than 30 years was "slaughtered" as he prayed.