The South African Muslim Network (Samnet) has expressed concern that a shooting at the Cape Town central train station last week may have been part of a ‘false flag’ operation, aimed at indicating the presence of the Islamic State (IS) group in South Africa.

Two male gunmen dressed in female Islamic attire (niqab), stormed the City’s main train station on Tuesday 13th October, opening fire “in all directions”, as reported by eyewitnesses. One of the gunmen then turned the weapon on himself and committed suicide via a gunshot to the mouth. The second perpetrator managed to flee the scene and remains at large.

Samnet chairperson, Dr Faisal Suliman said that while the organisation was concerned as to the possible motivation of the incident, they were not eager to jump to conclusions as yet.

However, concerns were centred on the fact that one of the suspects had chosen to kill themselves, despite no clear evidence of any major crime being committed prior to the shooting.

“Police say they may have been involved in an attempted robbery, but there is no indication of the store or where this happened.”

Furthermore, the deceased perpetrator was alleged to have donned multiple pairs of gloves, military style boots and a balaclava under his veil, fuelling concerns that it may have been an operation aimed at denting the reputation of Muslims.

“It may sound like conspiracy theory and the realms of speculation, but these things happen all over the world. Imagine if something untoward had really happened, what do you have? You have a train station and two people dressed like Muslims,” he said, suggesting that if a bystander had been shot or an explosive device planted at the site, the Muslim community would likely have had to shoulder the blame.

Suliman said the public need be aware of the possibilities that false flag operations were not out of the realm of possibility in South Africa, and any such incident would drastically change the lives and conditions of Muslims in the country.

“It is concerning for us that if this was a small version of a 7/7 or the Madrid bombings or something like that, the implications of that would be staggering,” he added. VOC