Overview
- The ambush that hit Mount Edgecombe Thursday has left the driver dead and his partner in critical care after an airlift to hospital.
- Police say the pair were on an undercover operation when three assailants tailed them, tried to stop their car, and later burned a getaway vehicle.
- Acting National Commissioner Puleng Dimpane ordered maximum resources into a nationwide search, with crime intelligence, detectives, organised crime units and tactical teams deployed.
- Investigators are processing three linked crime scenes, and it remains unclear whether the officers managed to return fire during the attack.
- SAPS sent psychologists and chaplains to support relatives and colleagues, and officials note the killing fits a wider pattern of officer fatalities, with media reporting 111 deaths in 2023/2024.