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6 killers, rapists on a rampage

APPEAL: SAPS' Khephu Ndlovu. © Unknown.
APPEAL: SAPS' Khephu Ndlovu. © Unknown.

Sne Masuku

Sne Masuku

KwaZulu-Natal police have launched a massive search for a group of six armed men who left a man dead, raped six women, stole valuables from their victims and left the residents of Umlazi and Welbedacht living in fear.

The reign of terror went on for two days this week. Four rape victims were allegedly first abducted from an Umlazi home at gunpoint, dragged to nearby bushes and then raped.

Community safety MEC Bheki Cele yesterday appealed to the community to work with police to apprehend the suspects, believed to be in their 20s.

The incidents have left the communities of Umlazi, south of Durban, and Welbedacht, near Chatsworth, traumatised and living in fear.

One of the six rape victims is a 19-year-old from Umlazi's N-section. She was asleep when a group of men pretending to be police knocked on her door. When her uncle refused to open the door, they fired at him from outside. He died instantly.

Captain Khephu Ndlovu said shortly before the Umlazi attack, the men had stormed a house in Chatsworth where they shot and wounded two men before taking turns to rape an elderly woman. Afterwards they fired a shot, wounding her in the head. One of the men was shot in the neck and the other in the thigh.

Ndlovu said the suspects have also been linked to other rapes and theft of valuables from homes.

"The women are receiving treatment. Counselling will be provided for them," he said.

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