When Pentecostals go carnal : Five killed in attack on S. African church, hostages freed : Pentecostal Holiness Church leaders speak out after hostage situation

 

Five killed in attack on S. African church, hostages freed

https://observer.ug/news/headlines/65622-five-killed-in-attack-on-s-african-church-hostages-freed  

July 12, 2020

 

Written by VOA

 

 Five people were killed in an attack on a church west of Johannesburg in the early hours of Saturday, South African police said, with some of the attackers taking hostages who were later freed.

Police arrested around 40 people and seized 40 firearms, including rifles, shotguns and handguns, related to the attack on the International Pentecost Holiness Church in Zuurbekom, police spokesman Vishnu Naidoo told the eNCA television station.

Police earlier posted pictures of some of the confiscated weapons on Twitter, saying they were dealing with a "hostage situation and shooting".


One potential motive for the attack is a power struggle at the church between rival factions, local media reported.

"(E)verything was in complete disarray, so we have arrested all those that we reasonably believe are suspects, we are busy interviewing and interrogating them to establish exactly what the motive was," Naidoo told eNCA.

Pentecostal Holiness Church leaders speak out after hostage situation

https://ewn.co.za/2020/07/12/pentecostal-holiness-church-leader-speaks-out-after-hostage-situation

 

Five people were shot dead when a splinter group allegedly forcefully entered the church on Saturday.

Police arrested several people and over 25 firearms were seized during the hostage incident at the International Pentecost Holiness Church in Zuurbekom on 11 July 2020. Picture: SAPS.

 

Veronica Mokhoali | about 7 hours ago JOHANNESBURG - The church leaders of the Pentecostal Holiness Church are speaking out a day after people were killed and some held hostage at the church headquarters in the west of Johannesburg.

Five people were shot dead when a splinter group allegedly forcefully entered the church on Saturday.

Over 200 congregants, including women children, were held at ransom for hours.
There has been an ongoing leadership battle since the founder of the church died in 2016.
The church’s spokesperson, Abiel Wessie, a priest, said the faction from the church’s Jerusalem branch was behind the attack.

“They came in and forcefully wanted to take over the church. They came in and bulldozed the entrance. They used their bakkie to get through a gate that was locked. They managed to get access and others came through the back gate. They started to harass church members who were asleep at the time.”