A TOP Transkei police officer, who police knew for some time had been on a Port St Johns taxi industry hit list and had been placed under guard, was shot dead at close range outside his Umtata home on Wednesday night. The officer, whose identity has not yet officially been disclosed, was a superintendent attached to the office of the Umtata Area Commissioner and had just returned home from a crime awareness campaign function at the Umtata town hall. Police, who described the killing as a “highly professional assassination,” said six 9mm pistol rounds had been fired at close range as the officer climbed out of his official vehicle shortly after 6.00pm. The officer had been under guard whenever he moved in or out of Umtata after police became aware of the hit list, said police spokesman Captain Mzukisi Fatyela. In December 1994, Transkei deputy police commissioner General Wildon Mbulawa was also assassinated outside his home.
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