A 40-year-old man has been shot dead outside the Mayfair Jummah Masjid in Johannesburg on Tuesday night.

Gauteng police spokesperson Colonel Lungelo Dlamini told News24 the incident occurred at about 19:00.

He said two unknown suspects are believed to have shot a man who was leaving the mosque.

“When he went back to the mosque he was followed by these suspects…. He died at the scene,” said Dlamini.

“One civilian was also wounded in the neck and he has been taken to the hospital.”

Dlamini said the motive for the attack was still unknown and a case of murder and attempted murder has been opened.

No arrests have been made and police are investigating the matter.

“They [police] are still at the scene to take some statements from the witnesses,” he said.

There has been a spate of attacks on mosques last year.

In two separate incidents in Cape Town, a 30-year-old man was shot and killed, and an Imam was injured in November, while two men died after an attack at a Malmesbury mosque in June.

A mosque attack in Verulam, outside Durban, in May saw unknown men storming the Imam Hussain Mosque in Ottawa.

During the attack, one person was killed and part of the Shia mosque was set alight and an explosive device was found in the building a few days later.

(Source: News24)