In a gunfight with police on Thursday during a foiled cash theft, nine alleged robbers, according to South African authorities, were slain.
As the suspects were en route to attacking a vehicle carrying money in the morning, a police tactical response squad tracked the group to an address in Sebokeng, a township south of Johannesburg, according to police.
“A shootout ensued,” police spokeswoman Athlenda Mathe said. “A total of eight suspects were certified dead at the scene while the ninth suspect died in hospital”.
Three others were wounded and had been taken for treatment at a nearby medical facility.
The group was believed to be behind a spate of cash heists on armoured security trucks in Johannesburg’s Gauteng province and surrounding areas.
Six rifles, explosives “ready to be detonated” and four vehicles were seized at the scene, Mathe said.
Robbers often target vehicles transporting cash in crime-ridden South Africa.
Earlier this week, two bystanders were killed and one wounded after they were caught up in a robbery in Benoni, east of Johannesburg, and randomly shot at.