The Department of Foreign Affairs could throw no light on reports on Thursday morning that a fifth South African has been killed in Iraq. Reports from Basra said a civilian, believed to be South African, was killed in a drive-by shooting in the city earlier in the day.
”We can confirm there was a shooting incident this morning in Basra at approximately 9:15 am (7.15 SA time) and a non-Iraqi civilian has been killed,” said Major Ian Clooney, a spokesperson for the British military.
”We believe him to be a South African.”
Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa could not immediately confirm the death or the person’s identity.
South Africa does not have a diplomatic mission in Iraq and earlier this year warned citizens that the troubled country was considered a conflict zone under the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act which made it an offence to render security services there.
The four South Africans killed there to date were all performing such functions.
Mamoepa said the South African missions in both Amman, Jordan, and Kuwait City in Kuwait have been asked to establish the ”circumstances leading to the reported death and the identity of the deceased with the view to informing the family of the development and to see what assistance the government can provide”.
He added that government remained concerned about rising number of South Africans dying in Iraq, ”particularly after the call by deputy foreign minister Aziz Pahad on South Africans not to go to Iraq”.
The name of the South African killed in Baghdad last week on Thursday was not immediately available.
The three other South Africans killed in recent months were Frans Strydom, Gray Branfield and Henry ”Vis” Visagie. Another South African, Deon Gouws, was seriously injured in the blast that killed Strydom. ‒ Sapa