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Johannesburg — Two police officers were shot, then burnt, and then shot in the head while they were trying to stop crimes in KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday night, provincial police said yesterday.Constables Mpendulo Welcome Jaca, 37, and Zamukwanda Wiseman Majoka, 34, responded to an alarm at a wholesaler in Harding at 21:30 on Thursday evening, spokesperson Colonel Jay Naicker said.

They drove into a robbery in progress and the suspects opened fire at their van, which then caught alight.

‘’Bystanders managed to rescue a female police officer from the vehicle, whilst our other two colleagues died in the vehicle, which burnt on the scene,” said Naicker.

Meanwhile, during a raid at the KwaMashu Men’s Hostel in Xolani Road and at an illegal tavern, police ‘’encountered resistance from hostile residents in the area’’.

‘’During the process a shot was fired and Sergeant Sandile Humphrey Mbhele, 37, was shot in the head. He was taken to hospital where he died on arrival,” said Naicker.

Yesterday, national police commissioner General Riah Phiyega and police management visited the officers’ families.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss we have experienced. I want to extend my heartfelt condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of our colleagues who had passed on,” Phiyega said in a statement.

She had asked a team, including crime intelligence and the Hawks in the province, catch the killers.

Two people had already been taken in for questioning in connection with the KwaMashu shooting.

Three illegal firearms would be sent for ballistic testing.

Meanwhile, while police briefed the media on a breakthrough in the murder investigation of Port Elizabeth teacher Jayde Panayiotou, one suspect appeared briefly in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.

Provincial police spokesperson, Brigadier Marinda Mills, confirmed that Thando Siyoli, 31, had appeared briefly and that the case had been remanded to May 7. Siyoli will remain in custody.

Siyoli was arrested during the week in the Kwazakhele township in Port Elizabeth.

The second suspect, aged 28, was arrested in Uitenhage late on Wednesday night and will appear in court on Monday. — AFP.