Verulam mosque attack ‘one of a kind’, say Hawks

The attack on a Shia mosque in Ottawa that left one man dead and two other men injured was a one of a kind incident, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, better known as the Hawks, said on Friday.

“This incident [on Thursday afternoon] is one of a kind, we have no current knowledge of such an attack in this area previously,” Hawks KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson Captain Simphiwe Mhlongo, told African News Agency (ANA).

Ottawa is a small suburb about 30 kilometres north of Durban and a few kilometres from Verulam.

It is believed that three men, suspected of being foreign nationals, entered the Imam Hussain mosque after prayers on Thursday claiming they wanted to pray and then proceeded to attack and stab Moulana Ali Nchinyane and Muhammad Ali.

Abbas Essop, who worked close to the mosque, rushed to the scene to offer assistance. His throat was slit and he later died in hospital. Several rooms in the building, including the library, were set alight after a petrol bomb was hurled into the mosque. The suspects then fled in a vehicle.

Essop’s funeral was held on Friday, with hundreds of mourners and sympathisers in attendance and a strong police presence keeping watch.

A Sunni man who attended the funeral told ANA that he had never known there were that many Shia worshippers in the area until he saw the mourners.

“I was astonished to see such a large Shia crowd. I have had contact with the mosque and I have always found the people there to be very welcoming. I have never known Shiites to display aggressive behaviour or known of Sunni and Shia tensions in this area,” he said.

The majority of the world’s Muslims are Sunni, with South Africa being no exception. While both sects adhere to the central teachings of the Koran, doctrinal differences generally centre on succession.

South Africa is known for its religious tolerance, but at a press conference on Friday, Moulana Aftab Haider of the Ahlul Bait Foundation said he believed the incident was linked to terrorism and was similar to attacks made by terror group Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria.

Speaking at the same press conference, Nchinyane, who had been released from hospital, said it was clear the men wanted to kill him. He blamed the incident on Islamic extremists who disagreed with Shia doctrine.

Muhammed Ali remains in hospital.

Elements of extremism connected to the attack were being investigated, according to Mhlongo.

“We are investigating elements of extremism because of the manner in which the attack happened. Extremist elements include extreme violence within the context of politics or religion,” he said.

Several policing structures were working together to find the suspects responsible for the bloody attack, he said, with no arrests having been made at the time of publication.

– African News Agency (ANA)