ONLY hours after seven would-be robbers were killed in a shootout with police in Limpopo on Sunday, a cash-van security guard was shot dead during a robbery at the Umvoti Ultra City in KwaDukuza, north of Durban,yesterday morning.

Police spokesperson Captain Khephu Ndlovu said G4 Security guards had been collecting weekend takings yesterday morning when seven armed men, dressed as construction workers, approached them.

"As one security guard was leaving the shop carrying a cash box, he was surrounded by armed men. It is believed that a shootout ensued between the guard and the men. The guard was shot dead.

"The suspects managed to open the cash box and took an undisclosed amount of money," he said.

Netcare 911 spokesperson Jeff Wicks said the guard had sustained a single gunshot wound to the face.

"When paramedics arrived at the scene, the security guard had succumbed to his injuries and was declared dead. He had been shot in the face," said Wicks.

Ndlovu said the suspects had fled in a Ford Bantam and that police were investigating murder and armed robbery cases.